Bhagalpur, April 22: Lawyer-cum-RTI activist Dinesh Kumar Singh today appeared before the court of the Bhagalpur sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) as amicus curiae (friend of the court).

He prayed before court to issue a fresh process against Bhagalpur mayor Dipak Kumar Bhubania, allegedly absconding for 22 years after conviction in a case. Dinesh, who unearthed the case earlier, alleged the police were not executing the warrant pending against Bhubania since 2009.

He filed a petition on Wednesday, as amicus curiae, in the court of Bhagalpur SDJM Atul Ranjan Upadhay. Amicus curiae, a legal Latin phrase, refers to someone who is not a party to a case but volunteers to offer information on a point of law or some other aspect of the case to assist the court in deciding a matter before it, Dinesh explained.

He has prayed for action against Bhubania, who has been enjoying constitutional powers as mayor, despite his alleged conviction in the case. Dinesh pointed out that the police had, so far, not executed the process issued by court, on the ground that records had gone missing from the civil court. "The general public is losing confidence in the judicial system and system of execution of court order," he alleged before the court.

After hearing Dinesh's arguments, the court kept its order in reserve.

Later, talking to reporters, Dinesh raised questions on the role of police in the case. He said the permanent warrant against Bhubania was sent to Kotwali police station in 2009 before it was lost.

"Instead of looking for the old pending warrant and fixing responsibility for its loss, I don't know why the police have started looking for the court's original documents?"

He also asked: "Since some original documents are missing from the civil court, what is the purpose of the police to look for the documents."

Bhagalpur district bar association senior lawyer Abhay Kant Jha accused the police of complicating the case, instead of simply executing the pending arrest warrant against Bhubania. He was hopeful that Dinesh becoming amicus curiae would help.

Senior superintendent of police Vivek Kumar said on April 2 the police had urged the civil court registrar to provide the related documents. "The documents we received from court are not sufficient, so we urged the court again, on April 21, to provide us records and order sheet of the case concerned," he said.

As reported by The Telegraph in its March 30 edition, Bhubania contested the municipal polls in 2012 without declaring he was declared a fugitive in the court of law. Evidence collected by Dinesh suggested that 22 years ago, sub-divisional judicial magistrate GNP Azad had convicted Bhubania in a case, the documents of which went missing mysteriously thereafter.