SC extends Arnab bail, pulls up HC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday extended the interim bail of TV anchor Arnab Goswami and two others till four weeks after the Bombay High Court decides their pleas for quashing of an FIR in the 2018 abetment to suicide case, stating that the judiciary should ensure criminal law does not become a weapon for selective harassment.

“The writ of liberty runs through the fabric of the Constitution,” the apex court said in an extensive judgment in the case, dealing with various aspects such as power of high courts to grant bail under writ jurisdiction, quashing of an FIR and role of courts in upholding human liberty. “It is the duty of courts across the spectrum - the district judiciary, the High Courts and the Supreme Court - to ensure that the criminal law does not become a weapon for the selective harassment of citizens,” the apex court said while extending the interim bail.

Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, Neetish Sarda and Feroz Mohammad Shaikh were arrested by Alibaug police in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on November 4 in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 over alleged nonpayment of dues by companies of the accused. “The interim protection which has been granted to the...accused by the order dated November 11, shall continue to remain in operation pending the disposal of the proceedings before the High Court and thereafter for a period of four weeks from the date of the judgment of the HC, should it become necessary for all or any of them to take further recourse to their remedies in accordance with law,” a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee said in the judgment.

“The need to ensure the fair investigation of crime is undoubtedly important in itself, because it protects at one level the rights of the victim and, at a more fundamental level, the societal interest in ensuring that crime is investigated and dealt with in accordance with law. On the other hand, the misuse of the criminal law is a matter of which the High Court and the lower Courts in this country must be alive,” the judgment said.

Justice Chandrachud referred to various judgments to highlight the importance of personal liberty and the principle that “bail is rule and the jail is exception”.