NEW DELHI, 11 DEC 

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea of former Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna to transfer the trial of two criminal cases against him before the special MP/MLA court in Bengaluru to another city court. 

Revanna, who was handed a life sentence for raping a domestic worker, had argued that the cases should not be heard by the same judge who sentenced him in the first case.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi told Revanna's counsel that the judge’s observations cannot be a ground to allege bias. They rejected the argument, saying that judges assess cases based on evidence. 

Senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and Siddarth Dave, representing Revanna, said that the judge made some adverse comments against lawyers too, which requires expunction.

Justice Bagchi said that lawyers cannot hold judicial officers to ransom and make allegations against them.

CJI Kant said that Revanna's counsel can furnish an apology before the High Court, as it is unethical to allege bias just because some observations were made by the judge.