The confusion began when Bhat had approached the top court on a personal matter involving emoluments from his college.
Abdul Gani Bhat, a retired professor from Srinagar ran from pillar to post trying to clarify that he was not a Hurriyat leader or any political leader like his namesake. Bhat finally won the battle, when the Supreme Court on Friday ordered a media organization to distinguish the apolitical Bhat from the political one.
The confusion began when Bhat had approached the top court on a personal matter involving emoluments from his college. However, certain sections of the media mistook him as the former Hurriyat chairman, who incidentally is also a former professor. Some portrayed him as a moderate face of Hurriyat leadership approaching the apex court.
On Tuesday, Bhat approached the Chief Justice of India JS Khehar to rescue him form this confusion. The aggrieved is a Commerce and Physical Education professor retired from the Islamic College of Science and Commerce that is located in the heart of old Srinagar. The other Bhat, the Hurriyat leader, was terminated from service by then governor Jagmohan in 1986, when he was teaching at a Government College in Sopore, some 50-kms away from Srinagar.
The confusion actually came when the Chief Justice in a friendly tone asked Bhat to throw light on the current situation in Kashmir. Bhat began a political lecture in the court room, asking the Chief Justice to intervene to give justice to people there, who are reeling under a severe curfew. He even said Burhan Wani’s killing was an extrajudicial murder. The Chief Justice however, cut him short, asking him to refrain from making such statements since it was a political issue, and not related to his petition.
“You can make political speeches in the state assembly, in the parliament or sit on 'dharna' outside it, but in the court you will limit yourself to whatever you have said in your petition,” the top judge had said on Tuesday.
Bhat’s petitions related to irregularities in his college. His original plea was that his case was not being heard by any judge at the High Court in Jammu & Kashmir, and he wished to transfer all his cases to the national capital.
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