Bihar judge who had ordered criminal to 'wash clothes' for bail restrained from judicial work

A person who had picked up a fight with residents of his colony was asked to clean the drains by the judge in the past

The Patna High Court has, vide an administrative order, restrained from judicial work a lower court judge in Bihar who has been in the headlines for giving piquant orders.

According to High Court sources, in an order passed on Friday, the court directed Avinash Kumar, Additional District and Sessions Judge posted in Jhanjharpur sub-division of Madhubani district, not to undertake judicial work until further orders.

The administrative move comes barely a few days after the judge had granted bail to a molestation accused on condition that he wash and iron clothes of all women in his village by way of repentance.

The judicial officer is said to have passed similarly heterodox orders in other matters in the past. In this month itself, two people accused of hoarding food-grain were granted bail by his court on condition that they distribute pulses, free of cost, among poor families.

A mason facing trial for possession of unlicensed arms was asked to render his services, free of cost, at the temple in his village. Two persons, involved in dairy business and named in an assault case, were ordered to distribute half litre milk among malnourished children.

Another person who had picked up a fight with residents of his colony was asked to clean the drains.