Granting bail to an accused in a CBI case, the Supreme Court on Thursday took stern exception to the Allahabad High Court deferring his bail plea “27 times”, and said that such delay should not have occurred in matters of personal liberty.
“In a matter of personal liberty, the high court is not expected to keep the matter pending and adjourn it 27 times,” Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, presiding over a two-judge bench, said.
Taking into account the nature of the allegations against the accused and his “long criminal history of thirty-three cases,” the High Court had on March 20 this year said “it would be appropriate to hear this bail application after recording the statement (examination-in-chief and cross-examination) of the complainant before the trial court.”
Asking the trial court to expedite the judicial process, the HC also directed that the matter “be listed immediately after two months along with the report of the trial court.”
Lakshya Tawar, meanwhile, approached the SC.
Hearing his appeal Thursday, the CJI wondered: “How can the high court adjourn the bail hearing 27 times in a matter related to personal liberty?”
Granting him bail, the bench closed the proceedings before the High Court.
The SC said that while it does not normally entertain challenges to adjournment orders, this was an exception.
Issuing notice to the CBI, the bench said the only issue that remained was the repeated adjournments before the HC.
The accused is facing charges under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, besides Sections 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
