Courts not only deliver verdicts, but also create confidence in the minds of people about justice. An ordinary citizen goes to the court because he has faith that the judge will look at his case without any bias or prejudice and he will get justice. India’s justice system rests on this trust. Therefore, sometimes judges recuse themselves from hearing a particular case, so that the message is not sent that there may be any personal bias in the decision.

In the last few years, it happened many times that some judges of the Supreme Court or High Court recused themselves from a case. Sometimes reasons are given, sometimes not, but the question arises that how can a judge recuse himself from a case and what difference does it make to his career?

How can a judge recuse himself from a case?

This is called Recusal in English i.e. withdrawing oneself from the hearing of a case. The main reason for this is conflict of interest. Meaning, any relationship, background or association that people feel could influence the judge’s decision. As if the judge is from the same state where the case is related to. There may be a past acquaintance or professional relationship with any party, the judge may have previously been an advocate in the same case, the judge may have shares or interests in any organization related to that case.

Does the judge have to give reasons?
There is no fixed rule that the judge has to be told why he is stepping aside. Sometimes the judge himself gives the reason, sometimes he silently withdraws without giving any reason, it completely depends on the judge. However, there are some ethical guidelines. For example, if a judge has shares in a company, he cannot hear cases of the same company. Apart from this, if the judge has previously been a lawyer in a case, then he should withdraw from that case.

What happens to the case if the judge withdraws?

The case is given to another judge or a new bench. Who to give is decided by the Chief Justice in the High Court and the CJI in the Supreme Court. Sometimes a judge is changed and sometimes the entire bench is changed. Whereas the judge recusing from the case is a normal process. This is considered sensible and moral. Many times this step increases the credibility of the judiciary. It is clear from this that for the purpose of justice, a judge’s withdrawal from a particular hearing or case does not affect his career in any way.

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How many Judges in India: There are only 15 judges on a population of 10 lakh in the country, which are much less than the recommendation of the Law Commission. According to the commission, there should be 50 judges on a population of 10 lakhs. This information has been revealed in the ‘India Justice System Report’ 2025 released on Tuesday (April 15).

According to this report, ‘India has 21 thousand 285 judges for 140 crore people or about 15 judges per population of one million. This is much lower than the recommendation of 50 judges on a population of one million per million of the Law Commission of 1987. According to this, vacancies in different High Courts were 33 percent of the total sanctioned posts. The report claimed 21 percent vacancies in 2025, which shows more charge for existing judges.

It has also revealed that there are 2,200 cases per judge per judge in district courts at the national level. The burden of per judge cases in Allahabad and Madhya Pradesh High Courts is 15,000. The total stake of women judges in the district judiciary has increased from 30 percent to 38.3 percent in 2017 and in 2025 it has increased from 11.4 percent to 14 percent in the High Courts.

How much is the number of women judges in the courts?

It has also been learned that women judges have more stake in district courts than the High Court and Supreme Court (six percent). Currently, 25 High Court has only one female Chief Justice. The district courts of Delhi are among the lowest vacancies in the country, where 11 percent vacancies and 45 percent of women are judges.

How many SC/ST judges in the country?

Along with this, only five percent of the judges in the district judiciary are from Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 14 percent from Scheduled Castes (SC). Out of 698 judges of the High Court appointed from the year 2018, only 37 judges are from SC and ST categories. According to the report, the total representation of OBC in the judiciary is 25.6 percent.

How much do the state spend on the judiciary?

The report said that the national per capita expenditure on legal aid is Rs 6.46 per year, while the national per capita expenditure on the judiciary is Rs 182. It claimed that no state spends more than one percent of its total annual expenditure on the judiciary.

Arrest warrant against judges: Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Verma has been in the headlines for the last several days. A few days ago a large amount of cash was recovered from his house. After this, the Supreme Court has ordered him to transfer Allahabad High Court. At the same time, the roster of Delhi High Court is also being talked about removing his name. But do you know that once the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly issued a warrant for the arrest of judges. There was a lot of uproar at that time.

MLA Narasimha Narayan was accused of corruption

This is done during the third term of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Socialist Party activist Keshav Singh had pasted posters from Gorakhpur to the corridors of Vidhan Bhavan, in which Congress MLA Narasimha Narayan Pandey was accused of corruption. The MLA considered it a violation of privilege. At that time, the assembly speaker was Madan Mohan Verma, then the MLA pleaded in front of him and the matter went to the privilege committee. The committee then held four people including Keshav Singh guilty and they were asked to appear in the House. The rest of the people appeared in the House, but Keshav Singh did not come. Keshav Singh said that he does not have money to come from Gorakhpur to House.

When Keshav Singh arrested

He may not appear in the House, but he sent a letter to the speaker and wrote in it that the decision to summon him in the House is Nadirshahi. Now the then Chief Minister was Sucheta Kripalani, so he made a direct proposal in the House that Keshav Singh should be arrested and sent to jail for seven days. Marshal from Gorakhpur arrested Keshav Singh and sent him to jail. Then advocate b. On 19 March 1964, Soleman called this arrest wrong before the Allahabad High Court and even filed a petition. Keshav Singh had passed six days in jail. When the day of hearing came, no lawyer appeared on behalf of the government. In such a situation, Keshav Singh got bail.

Warrant came out of UP assembly for arrest of judges

Assembly speakers became enraged about this. He considered this decision as an intervention in the authority of the Legislative Assembly and with both the High Court judges Naseerullah Baig and GD Sehgal, lawyer B.K. Soleman was arrested and issued a warrant to be presented in the House. Now both the judges are worried about what to do. Then he filed a petition against this order in his own High Court. Later, the matter was heard by the Supreme Court.