The Supreme Court has stayed the Allahabad High Court order granting anticipatory bail on ground of apprehension of death due to Covid. A vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai heard the submissions made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who stated that the accused is a serial criminal with more than 130 criminal cases against him.
The bench held that courts shall not consider the directions made in the impugned order while deciding other applications of anticipatory bail. The bench emphasised that the matter should be decided on merits of each case, and not on basis of observations made in the order. In its order granting bail, the high court had stated, “In such uncertain times it would be against the requirement of Article 14 of the constitution of India, which provides equality before law and equal protection of law, to leave an accused unprotected from arrest and suffer the consequences of being infected with novel corona virus”.
The court also appointed Adv V Giri as amicus curiae “keeping in view the importance of the issue involved in the present case.”
“Keeping in view the totality of facts and circumstances of the present case, we direct that as far as the general observations and directions in the impugned order are concerned, the same shall remain stayed and the Courts shall not consider the said directions while considering other application for anticipatory bail, which shall be decided on the merit of each case, and not on the basis of observations made in the impugned order,” the court held.
The court further stated that if the accused did not appear before the court on the next hearing, it shall be considered to be a good ground for cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to him.
Background
On May 10, the Allahabad High Court passed an order observing that apprehension of death on account of reasons like the present pandemic is a valid ground for grant of anticipatory bail. The order was passed by Justice Siddharth while hearing an anticipatory bail application of one Prateek Jain, who was accused of cheating along with other co-accused who are directors of a builder company. Jain argued that he was only related to the other co-accused and was falsely implicated in the case.
While considering the bail application, the court had observed thus, “The established parameters for grant of anticipatory bail like the nature and gravity of accusation, the criminal antecedent of the applicant, the possibility of fleeing from justice and whether accusation has been made for injuring and humiliating the applicant by getting him arrested have now lost significance on account of present situation of the country and the State on account of spread of second wave of novel corona virus.”
The order may be read here:
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