The special designated judge for the July 26 Ahmedabad Serial Blasts case, Bela Trivedi, on Monday, rejected an application by defence lawyer I M Munshi, asking her to withdraw from conducting the trials, on moral grounds.

According to the details of the matter, Munshi recently saw one of the investigating officers of the blasts case coming out of the chamber of the judge. Munshi then filed the application on the ground that the trial could be partial.

On Monday, during the hearing of the application, Munshi submitted that as a defence advocate, he had lost trust on the judge. As such, she should withdraw herself from the case, he said.

Munshi also cited the recent instance of Supreme Court judge Arijit Pasayat withdrawing from hearing an application after former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda accused him of “bias” and sought his withdrawal from the bench hearing the matter.

Trivedi asked Munshi to mention the legal provisions under which he is demanding her withdrawal, to which Munshi replied that he asking for it on moral grounds.

Earlier, Munshi told Newsline: “On February 9, I was sitting in the courtroom, waiting for the judge to come out of her chamber for the court proceedings. As the door of the chamber opened, V R Toliya, one of the investigating officers in the case, came out.”

He said, “As soon as Toliya saw me, he hastily left the courtroom.” Munshi was present in the courtroom for the hearing of a revision application of Faqir Mohammed Mansuri, the father-in-law of Sajid Mansuri, one of the accused in the blasts case.

Faqir has been demanding his motorcycle back, which was seized by the Ahmedabad City Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) from Sajid following his arrest last August.

Munshi said he did not want to argue on the revision application before the court of Bela Trivedi till this issue is sorted out.

“We will go to the higher forum to challenge the order,” he said.