[Delhi Riots hate speech case] Who is the former Bombay High Court judge who received notice from the Delhi High Court?

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to political leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a batch of petitions seeking their impleadment in a hate speech case related to the Delhi Riots of February 2020..There are nearly half a dozen petitions in the batch of cases relating to this issue.While the ones filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and others have sought inquiry into the role of the Delhi Police as well as 'right-wing' leaders including Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP spokesperson Kapil Mishra, the petition filed by Lawyer's Voice alleged that it was the speeches of Rahul, Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others that instigated the riots..Interestingly, one of the persons to whom notice was issued by the High Court is a former judge of the Bombay High Court - retired Justice BG Kolse Patil. Justice Patil told Bar & Bench that it was unfortunate that a plea has been filed to implead him. He said that while he is unsure of why an attempt has been made to make him a party to the case, it could be because he had spoken against Hindutva supporters after the anti-CAA protests.“This is very unfortunate, whoever is trying to implead me. Firstly, I was invited to be on the fact finding committee for the Delhi riots. I went there, visited all places. I used the logic Hemant Karkare had used - Muslims will not want to harm other Muslims, they will not want to destroy the properties of Muslims. 90% loss of property is of Muslims. Secondly, I went to Delhi after the CAA NRC protest and I spoke against Hindutva vadis. I congratulated the women who had protested. Maybe this (impleadment) is because of that. I don’t know anything beyond. I don’t know what is the reason for it,” Justice Patil said.Before he became a judge of the High Court, Justice Patil was a lawyer known for his participation in high-profile trials such as the Manwath murder case and the Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders trial.In 1985, he was appointed as a judge of Bombay High Court. He resigned from the bench prematurely to devote his time to social service before actively entering into politics. He is presently the Maharashtra State Secretary of the political party Janata Dal (Secular), which is one of the main political parties of Karnataka..Patil was born on September 18, 1942, in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra to landless agricultural labourers. He had to drop out of school due to a financial crunch. However, with secondary education becoming free of cost, he returned to class, and went on to obtain a Bachelors' degree in Science.He secured his LL.B. from ILS, Pune while working part time as a school teacher. He specialised in criminal law..His legal career was highly successful, and he rose to popularity as a consequence of his participation in a few high-profile trials. After this, the Maharashtra government appointed him as a district public prosecutor in 1981, a post which he held till 1985. At the age of 43, he was appointed to the Bombay High Court as a judge in 1985.Pertinently, he was also influential in convincing the government to establish an Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court.Eventually, he quit the judiciary in 1990 to focus solely on his social service activities. .After quitting the judiciary, he founded the Lokshashan Andolan (People's Democratic Movement) which focused on social and economic justice for adivasis, small-time farmers and displaced people..Patil also found himself to be in the midst of controversies with allegations being made against him for his views and opinions. He had been accused of delivering hate speeches during the protests against the introduction of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which later became an Act in 2019 (CAA) and also against the National Register for Citizens (NRC). It was alleged that those speeches instigated the riots of February 2020 in Delhi.Pertinently, Justice Patil along with former Supreme Court judge Justice PB Sawant have openly said that they were the main organisers of Elgar Praishad event of December 2017 which has been blamed for the Bhima Koregaon violence. The event was organised with the motive of spreading message of fighting communal forces, Justice Patil had said. Neither judge has faced any adverse action, though many others have been arrested in connection with the same.“They have not gone after us because they know it will not sustain their current charge that this event was organised by Maoists,” Justice Sawant had told Scroll..Neha Joshi contributed to this story.