Former Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Rohit Arya joins BJP

Former Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Rohit Arya joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday, Bar and Bench reported.

Arya confirmed to Live Law on Sunday that he had joined the BJP. “My thinking aligns with the philosophy of the BJP, a party that believes in human values,” Live Law quoted him as saying.

“A judge is a human being, too,” Arya told Live Law. “Once he retires, he has a life and can express his viewpoints; there is nothing wrong with it. Yes, a judge, while on his chair, must ensure that he adopts a non-partisan viewpoint.”

Arya was inducted into the Hindutva party by its state chief Raghavendra Sharma at the party office in Bhopal.

This came three months after Arya retired as a High Court judge.

Arya was enrolled as an advocate in 1984 and was designated as a senior advocate by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2003. His practice as an advocate focused on civil law, commercial law, arbitration, administrative law, service law, labour law and tax law, according to Bar and Bench.

He was elevated to the position of a judge in 2013 and became a permanent judge in 2015. He retired on April 27 this year.

Arya’s remarks during court proceedings often went viral on social media.

In January 2021, Arya denied bail to comedian Munawar Faruqui in a case pertaining to allegations that the comedian had made allegedly derogatory jokes about Hindu deities. The court concluded that there was prima facie evidence to suggest that Faruqui had intended to outrage religious feelings “under the garb of stand-up comedy”.

“Every [fundamental] right is coupled with duty,” he had said. “Liberty of an individual has to be balanced with his duties and obligations towards his fellow citizens.”

In April 2021, the Supreme Court set aside Arya’s order and granted bail to Faruqui.

Faruqui had been arrested in Indore on January 1, 2021, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during a programme on the basis of a complaint by Eklavya Singh Gaur, chief of Hindutva group Hind Rakshak Sangathan.

In July 2020, in another notable case, Arya directed a man accused of sexual assault to get a “rakhi” tied by the complainant as a bail condition.

The court also ordered the accused person to give the woman Rs 11,000 as a customary offering and “seek her blessings” and a further Rs 5,000 to the son of the complainant “for purchase of clothes and sweets”. The bail applicant had allegedly entered the house of the woman, his neighbour, and sexually harassed her.

In March 2021, the Supreme Court set aside Arya’s order.

The Supreme Court had at the time asked Attorney General KK Venugopal to give his suggestions on the matter. Venugopal, in his submission, said that the High Court’s order was “nothing but drama” and that it must be condemned. He also said that it was an opportunity to impart gender sensitisation in the judiciary.