Observing that the incident marked a ‘black day in the history of the court’, Justice Krishan Pahal of the Allahabad High Court has recused himself from hearing dozens of bail pleas after litigants attempted to approach the judge during the pendency of the matters.The single-judge bench of Justice Pahal was hearing one of the 75 bail applications of the accused lodged in jail since 2025 facing multiple cases in the alleged cough syrup smuggling racket, originating from Uttar Pradesh and spread across various states and nations bordering India.Remarking that such conduct strikes at the very heart of judicial independence, the judge directed that all the 75 pleas be placed before the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court for assignment to an appropriate bench.Also Read | Rs 700-crore cough syrup racket: UP drug regulator seeks stricter supply chain rulesThe hearingThe remarks came while the court was hearing the bail application of Bhola Prasad Jaiswal, father of the fugitive kingpin of the codeine-based syrup racket Shubham Jaiswal.The court stated in its order passed on July 30, “During the course of hearing, this Court had fixed all the matters to be heard today finally and order might have been delivered at a later point of time. Subsequently, efforts were made by the litigating parties to secure access to and approach the Presiding Judge. Such conduct, if permitted to pass unnoticed, strikes at the very heart of judicial independence and erodes public confidence in the purity of the adjudicatory process.”The bench of Justice Pahal observed, “This Court records, with profound anguish and an abiding sense of institutional responsibility, that the present episode marks a black day in the history of this Court. The very edifice of the judicial institution rests upon the unwavering confidence of the public that justice is administered impartially, fearlessly, and without any extraneous influence. Any attempt, however subtle or clandestine, to interfere with or influence the judicial decision-making process constitutes a direct assault upon the majesty of the Rule of Law.”Directing that the cases be placed before the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court for assignment to an appropriate bench, Justice Pahal further stated in the order, “The situation is rendered even more disturbing by the inevitable perception that would follow if the judgment were ultimately to be delivered in favour of the party whose case might find prima facie acceptance during the hearing. The order, irrespective of its legal correctness and intrinsic merit, would be susceptible to an unwarranted but damaging inference that it was the product of extraneous influence or inducement rather than an impartial judicial determination. The reputation of the institution, painstakingly built over generations, cannot be exposed to such avoidable suspicion.”Story continues below this adThe bench further observed that the sanctity of judicial proceedings does not merely require that justice be done; it demands that justice must manifestly and unquestionably appear to have been done. Any attempt by a litigant or counsel to establish an extra-judicial channel of communication with a judge in relation to a pending matter is wholly incompatible with the ethics governing the legal profession and the constitutional values underpinning an independent judiciary. Such an approach is an affront to judicial propriety and is utterly intolerable in the precincts of a High Court, the single-judge bench observed.The Court, Justice Pahal stated in the order, “therefore, considers it wholly inappropriate to proceed further with the matters. In order to preserve the dignity of the institution, to protect the purity of the judicial process, and to eliminate even the faintest apprehension regarding the impartiality of the adjudication, this Court deems it proper to recuse itself from further consideration of the cases. Accordingly, the matters stand released from this Court.”Mentioning case numbers of 75 bail applications related to the case, the single bench of Justice Pahal directed to put up these before the appropriate bench, if possible, on August 7 in the daily cause list after obtaining nomination from the Chief Justice/Senior Judge.Opinion | Cough syrup deaths: A regulator cannot bust spurious drug rackets. Task needs police involvementCodeine syrup racketThe codeine-based cough syrup racket was first unearthed by Sobhadra district police of Uttar Pradesh in 2024 after they intercepted a syrup-laden truck bound for Ranchi in Jharkhand. The investigation later busted an international racket allegedly smuggling cough syrup to neighbouring Bangladesh, involving alleged bogus firms spread across UP, Ranchi, and Ahmedabad.Story continues below this adThe kingpin of the racket was found to be Varanasi-based medicine trader Shubham Jaiswal, with firms in Ranchi and his associates in different districts of UP and Ahmedabad. The UP police later made multiple arrests including that of Shubham’s father Bhola Prasad Jaiswal, and a former UP Police constable Alok Singh from Lucknow.While the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a special investigation team to probe the multi-state and international cough syrup smuggling racket, the Enforcement Directorate too stepped in to probe the money laundering aspect. The agency had conducted searches in UP, Ranchi and Ahmedabad in December last year, while more than 30 FIRs were lodged by the UP Police in different districts in the racket. The probe is still on, with dozens of the accused still lodged in jail. Meanwhile, their bail applications are still pending in the High Court.