Supreme Court judge Justice Shree Chandrashekhar on Tuesday (July 21, 2026) recused himself from hearing a bail petition filed by advocate and activist Surendra Gadling in connection with the 2016 Surjagarh iron ore mine arson case. This marks the third recusal by a Supreme Court judge from hearing Mr. Gadling’s bail plea without assigning any reason.

The petition was listed before a Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar. Justice Mishra, however, said the case would have to be placed before another coordinate Bench as Justice Chandrashekhar was unable to hear it.

“It will go before some other Bench, my brother has some difficulty,” Justice Mishra said.

This is the third recusal by a Supreme Court judge in Mr. Gadling’s bail proceedings. Justice M.M. Sundresh had heard the matter on several occasions after it was first listed before his Bench on July 9, 2024. However, no substantive hearing took place as the State repeatedly sought adjournments. Justice Sundresh eventually recused himself from the matter on August 26, 2025, without assigning any reason.

The recusal order did not disclose why Justice Sundresh stepped aside after hearing the matter for over a year. The one-line order merely stated, “Subject to orders of the Honourable The Chief Justice, post before another Bench, in which one of us, Justice M.M. Sundresh, is not a member.”

Subsequently, on April 2 this year, Justice Atul S. Chandurkar also recused himself from hearing the bail plea without assigning any reason.

Repeated adjournments

Last week, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mr. Gadling, mentioned the matter before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, seeking an urgent listing of the plea. Mr. Sibal submitted that his client had remained in custody for more than seven years and sought an early hearing.

Earlier, on August 8, 2025, senior advocate Anand Grover, also appearing for Mr. Gadling, had urged the then Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai to list the matter urgently, citing his client’s prolonged incarceration. He had also pointed out that the bail petition had been adjourned repeatedly, largely because the prosecution sought additional time to file its counter affidavit.

“The bail plea has been adjourned 11 times in the Supreme Court,” Mr. Grover had submitted.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court also took note of the prolonged delay in the proceedings. A Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi directed the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court to ensure that a regular presiding judge was posted within seven days to the Additional Sessions Court at Aheri in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district if it was functioning under an in-charge judge owing to a vacancy.

The Bench further directed the trial court to allow Mr. Gadling inspection of the case material within three weeks, frame charges within four weeks thereafter, return the records to the NIA court in safe custody, and ensure his appearance through video conferencing without hindrance.

The present bail plea arises from the 2016 Surjagarh arson case, in which several vehicles transporting iron ore from the Surjagarh mines in Gadchiroli district were allegedly set ablaze by persons associated with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).

Incarceration without trial

Mr. Gadling has been lodged in Taloja Central Prison since June 2018 following his arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, in which he has remained incarcerated for nearly seven years without trial. The prosecution alleges that provocative speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017, triggered the violence that erupted near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial the following day.

Mr. Gadling was subsequently arrested in February 2019 in the Surjagarh arson case. On January 31, 2023, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court rejected his bail plea, observing that the allegations regarding his membership of the banned Maoist organisation appeared prima facie true. He thereafter approached the Supreme Court, which, on October 10, 2023, issued notice on his petition.

Mr. Gadling is now the only one of the 16 accused in the Elgar Parishad case who remains in custody. Jesuit priest Father Stan Swamy, one of the co-accused, died in judicial custody in 2021.

Published - July 21, 2026 04:38 pm IST