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SC questions Telangana HC order that cancels bail to accused, then orders release
The Supreme Court will take up the appeal against the Telangana high court order on Friday along with an appeal filed by the murder accused T Gangi Reddy
NEW DELHI: How can a court pass an order to cancel bail to a murder accused and then order the release of the accused on bail in the same order, the Supreme Court asked on Wednesday during the hearing on a petition that challenged the unusual order by Telangana high court.
In the April 27 order, the high court cancelled the statutory bail which was granted in June 2019 to T Gangi Reddy, a prime accused in the murder of former Andhra Pradesh MP YS Vivekananda Reddy, because the investigating agency didn’t file charges against him in 90 days. In the same order, the high court also directed T Rangi Reddy’s release on bail on July 1 on a personal bond for ₹1 lakh in view of the top court’s June 30 deadline for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete its probe.
“The high court has cancelled the bail. The accused may apply for regular bail. But how can the last portion of the order be passed after cancelling bail,” a vacation bench of justices PS Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal asked during Wednesday’s hearing on a petition by Suneetha Narreddy, the daughter of deceased ex-MP.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Suneetha Narreddy, said such an order was unprecedented and was not in conformity with the settled principles on the grant of bail.
“The normal procedure for an accused in custody to apply for bail is considered on merits after hearing arguments by the accused, state and victim. This procedure has been given a complete go-by,” Luthra said.
CBI, which was represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Sanjay Jain, said, “This kind of order is like the ‘eighth marvel’ in bail jurisprudence. The last part of the order annihilates the rest of the order. How can an order be cancelling bail and granting bail at the same time.”
The top court, which was going to give its ruling at the hearing, eventually decided to defer the case to Friday after senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for Gangi Reddy, told the bench that he was also challenging the high court’s cancellation of bail and was in the process of getting the petition listed.
The bench agreed to take up both appeals together. “If he (accused) has challenged the correctness of the order, we have to hear him. We will pass a reasoned order which is a balanced one.”
Former MP Vivekananda Reddy was found dead in his house at Pulivendula in Kadapa district on March 15, 2019. CBI took up the investigation in March 2020 on a petition by his family as they were not satisfied with the pace of the probe conducted by the state police.
In November last year, the top court directed the trial to be shifted from Kadapa to Hyderabad following apprehension over a fair trial due to the closeness of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy with the YSR Congress Party MP YS Avinash Reddy, who is a suspect in the murder of his cousin.
This is the second time in a month that the high court’s order in the case has drawn the top court’s displeasure.
On April 24, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud set aside an April 18 order of the high court that directed CBI to supply a written questionnaire to Avinash Reddy, before calling him for questioning. “An order of this nature will stultify the investigation. There is no warrant for the HC to state that a person who is an accused facing investigation should be given questions in written or printed form. Such orders of the Court tend to prejudice the course of investigation, particularly at a stage when the CBI has to fully investigate the role of the accused,” the bench led by CJI Chandrachud said.
