Govt can’t use its might to put someone behind the bars: SC

NEW DELHI The state cannot use its might to put someone behind the bars as a substitute for final conviction, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday, expressing concern over the “growing trend”.

An SC bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy was critical of the “new philosophy” applied by the police and the prosecution to try and keep people in jail at least for a few days as a form of punishment prior to proving the guilt of a suspect.

“Putting someone behind bars cannot be a substitute of final conviction. Ultimately, the philosophy now seems to have become that let us keep someone behind bars at least for some days even if there is no conviction in the end. State cannot use its might like this,” observed the bench.

The bench also commented on the independence of the investigating agencies,regretting that those working in these agencies were not adequately assessing the kinds of cases that should really go to trial since they were also influenced by several other factors.

“In true sense, an independent agency, which is supposed to take a call what should go to trial and what not, are also influenced by several other things...some {officers} are more interested about what after retirement for them,” remarked the bench.

It added: “If every case goes to a trial, the real time to examine most serious cases is reduced. Corruption cases and CBI {Central Bureau of Investigation} cases take the longest. And the person who is being convicted after 20 years, will tell us I am 70 now, don’t send me to jail. All this needs to be corrected.”

The bench also wondered if the government did any “legislative impact assessment” before making several disputes such as cheque-bounce cases and traffic violations crimes to be tried by the courts.

“These are institutional issues that nobody thinks of. Our good old jurisprudence on criminal laws, bail etc have bene thrown away,” rued the court.

The comments by the apex court came when the court was hearing bail pleas of former Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) owners Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhwan, who have been jailed in a money laundering case registered against them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

According to the CBI and the ED, Yes Bank invested around Rs 3,700 crore in short-term nonconvertible debentures of DHFL between April and June 2018 as an “quid pro quo” between Yes Bank’s co-promoter Rana Kapoor and the Wadhawans. The Wadhawans have bene in jail since March last year.

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Amit Desai appeared for Wadhawans while additional solicitor general SV Raju represented the ED in the case.

In September 2020, SC had stayed an order by the Bombay high court, which had granted bail to the Wadhawans on grounds that the ED failed to file a charge-sheet in the matter within the 60-day window as stipulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC).

Raju, for the ED, has argued that there was no expiry of the time since the day on which an accused is remanded should be excluded while calculating the 60-day period. Raju showed a judgment of the three-judge bench of the SC to buttress his point.

On the other hand, the counsel for Wadhawans also presented two other judgments of three-judge benches of the SC to contend that the 60-day period will start running from the day on which the accused are remanded to custody.

The bench then decided to refer this case to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for setting up a bench of at least three and preferably five judges for an authoritative ruling on the point of law. It also said the court order will also request the CJI to have the Wadhawans’ plea for bail urgently listed before a threejudge bench.

INDORE: Six people died after their speeding car rammed into a tanker in Indore’s Talawali Chanda area of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. The incident took place around 12.45 am today near a petrol pump in the area, police informed ANI.

“Six youths died after their speeding car rammed into tanker near a petrol pump in Indore’s Talawali Chanda area at about 12:45 am. The car had to be cut to recover dead bodies,” said SI Narsingh Yadav, Lasudia Police Station.

THE BENCH WAS CRITICAL OF THE ‘NEW PHILOSOPHY’ APPLIED BY THE POLICE AND THE PROSECUTION TO TRY AND KEEP PEOPLE IN JAIL AT LEAST FOR A FEW DAYS