By IANS,
Mumbai : Special TADA judge Pramod Kode, who shot to fame after awarding a jail term to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt last year, took over as the new principal judge of the City Civil and Sessions Court for Greater Mumbai, here Wednesday morning.
Kode’s new assignment follows promotion of principal judge Ashok Bhangale as a judge of the Bombay High Court.
Kode, the judge handling cases under the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (TADA) Act, who delivered the judgement in the 1993 serial blasts case, is one of the longest serving judges presiding over a single court. He conducted the proceedings in the 1993 serial blasts case for over ten years, among the most widely followed trials in Indian history.
A workaholic, Kode never missed a day of work till the last week of June 2007 when he had slipped in the bathroom and fractured his arm.
Kode started his career as a defence lawyer after graduating from the prestigious Government Law College, Mumbai. He became a prosecutor in 1987 and later a judge in the civil and sessions court.
He was promoted as a principal judge of a district court in 1993 and became the Special TADA Court judge in March 1996.