SC REFUSES TO ENTERTAIN BAIL PLEA OF COVID +VE CONVICT

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea for interim bail of convict and former MLA Mahender Yadav, serving 10 years jail term in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, on the ground that he has been admitted to the ICU after being tested positive for Covid-19.

A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and B R Gavai said the interim bail application cannot be entertained as the family has no “grievance” related to Yadav’s treatment and moreover, no relatives can visit him in the ICU where he has been treated for the novel coronavirus or Covid-19.

Besides Yadav, former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and former Congress councillor Balwan Khokhar are serving life imprisonment in the case after the Delhi high court had convicted them on December 17, 2018.

The counsel for Yadav said the convict was above 70 years of age and has tested positive for Covid-19 on June 26 in Mandoli jail.

Senior advocate H S Phoolka appeared for the riots’ victims and opposed the interim bail plea of Yadav.