The Supreme Court on Monday cancelled the bail granted by the Allahabad High Court to Ashish Mishra, prime accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri case and son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, in a “tearing hurry” and without giving the victims of the crime an opportunity to be heard.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli also directed Ashish Mishra to surrender within a week.
‘Victims’ right denied’
The 24-page judgment, authored by Justice Kant for the Bench, said the High Court exceeded its jurisdiction and denied the victims a chance to participate in the bail proceedings.
“Victims certainly cannot be expected to be sitting on the fence and watching the proceedings from afar, especially when they may have legitimate grievances. It is the solemn duty of a court to deliver justice before the memory of an injustice eclipses,” Justice Kant observed.
The court noted that the Allahabad High Court was in a “tearing hurry” to grant bail. Justice Kant said the apex court, taking all these factors under consideration, could “rightfully cancel the bail”.
But the court nevertheless did not deny Mr. Mishra his right to seek bail again before the High Court.
The High Court could consider afresh his plea in a fair manner.
“This court is tasked with ensuring that neither the right of an accused to seek bail pending trial is expropriated, nor the ‘victim’ or the State are denuded of their right to oppose such a prayer… We are also of the considered view that ends of justice would be adequately met by remitting this case to the High Court for a fresh adjudication of the bail application… The High Court shall decide the bail application afresh expeditiously, and preferably within a period of three months,” the court directed.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, for the victims, urged the Bench to request the Allahabad High Court Chief Justice to list the bail plea, if sought, before “another judge” of the High Court.
“Let us leave it here,” the Chief Justice told Mr. Dave, after conferring with the Bench. Justice Kant observed orally that “We are quite sure the judge would not want to hear it now.”
Reading out the order, Justice Kant observed that the victims had a right to be heard at every stage.
“Victims have unbridled participatory rights from the stage of investigation to culmination of proceedings... Victims have been clearly denied an opportunity to be heard at the time of grant of bail to the accused,” Justice Kant observed.
The Bench said the High Court went into “several irrelevant considerations” and treated the FIR as an “encyclopaedia of the events”, and thus, the bail order cannot be sustained.
The court’s decision was based on pleas by the bereaved families of farmers who were killed when a vehicle allegedly ran over them.
അഭിപ്രായങ്ങളൊന്നുമില്ല:
ഒരു അഭിപ്രായം പോസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്യൂ