Judge in Kathua case was India’s youngest magistrate

PATHANKOT: After the Supreme Court shifted the trial of the Kathua rape-murder case to Pathankot on Monday, district and sessions judge Tejwinder Singh who is from Chandigarh, will decide the case.

Known for his sobriety and professional competence, Singh joined the Punjab judicial services in 1991 at the age of 23 and made it to the 1993 edition of the Limca Book of World Records for being India’s youngest magistrate. He has been posted at Pathankot for over two years and this is his second stint as the district and sessions judge after Bathinda.

Singh had also practiced as an advocate at the Punjab and Haryana high court under senior advocate and former Punjab advocate general G K Chatarth for around a year before joining the judicial services.

In March 2017, he completed his doctorate in law from the Panjab University in Chandigarh on “Legislative Measures To Control Terrorism And Their Enforcement With Special Reference To The State Of Punjab: A Critique.”

Singh, who has been a meritorious student from matriculation to LLB, qualified for Punjab judiciary examination in 1989 and started his career as a magistrate in Ludhiana. In his 27-year service, he has served in almost every district of Punjab, including the Chandigarh district court. Singh is recognized as an efficient judge who maintains a very low profile and is accessible to the bar.

Sources confirmed that most of the members of Singh’s family have a legal background. His father Swinder Singh Kamal was also in the state judicial services.

Very few know that his wife, Gulchoo Jolly, who holds a master’s degree in law, is an actress and has worked in several Hindi and Punjabi movies, including Band Baja Baraat, Sharik, Carry on Jatta-I.

Although the judge outrightly refused to meet mediapersons on the issue, the president of the district bar association Pathankot, Rachpal Singh Thakur, said the biggest challenge before the judge would be to conduct an expeditious trial in the high-profile case.