New Delhi: Deprecating the tendency of the high court to adjourn matters of personal liberty, the Supreme Court has granted bail to an accused who was in custody for over three-and-a-half years in multiple CBI cases, noting 43 adjournments on his plea.
A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice N V Anjaria on August 25 allowed the plea of Ramnath Mishra alias Ramanath Mishra and ordered his release if not wanted in any other case.
The top court was especially critical of the Allahabad High Court in dealing with bail matters and said, “what to talk about the Allahabad High Court?”
“In the present case the matter has been adjourned on 43 occasions. We do not appreciate the tendency of the High Court to adjourn the matters pertaining to personal liberty of a citizen on such a large number of occasions. Time and again we have observed that the matters relating to personal liberty should be entertained by the Courts with utmost speed,” the CJI said in the order.
Taking note of the fact that Mishra was in jail for over 3.5 years, including the period undergone in the connected matter, the bench decided to allow him bail.
Senior advocate Yashraj Singh Deora, appearing for Mishra, pointed out a co-accused was granted the relief by the top court in May, after the high court deferred the hearing on 27 occasions.
Opposing the plea, Additional Solicitor General S D Sanjay contended granting bail while the matter was still pending before the high court would set a wrong precedent.
Rejecting the objection, the top court said the petitioner’s prolonged incarceration and repeated adjournments left it with no option but to intervene.