WERE YOU ASLEEP TILL SHAHABUDDIN GOT BAIL? SC PULLS UP NITISH GOVT
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down heavily on Bihar government for not putting facts before the Patna high court which granted bail to controversial RJD leader Mohd Shahabuddin in a murder case.
The counsel for Nitish Kumar government, which has RJD as its coalition partner in the state, faced searching questions in the apex court which rebuked it for not being serious in pursuing the case against Shahabuddin.
“Why have you approached the court only after his release? Were you in slumber till he got bail? This is a peculiar case. But the question is this peculiarity has been done at whose instance and who is behind this,” a bench comprising Justice PC Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy said.
“Why you did not challenge bail granted to Shahabuddin in 45 cases? Why did you realise only when he came out of jail?” the bench added.
The observations came after senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi, appearing for Bihar, sought cancellation of Shahabuddin’s bail. The lawyer admitted there were “anomalies” by the state government in the case.
To this, the bench said, “We can understand your difficulty and the only thing we can say is that we understand everything.”
Dwivedi said, “We (the state government) were handicapped at that time. But my submission is that the relevant material has been ignored in the case.”
The bench then asked him: “Why should you be handicapped? You are the state. It was the duty of your lawyer to inform the high court about the correct facts of the case.”
The hearing remained inconclusive and will continue on Thursday.