Girraj vs Kiranpal and Anr. etc

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

8 March 2021

Case No.

Criminal Appeal Nos. 286-290 of 2021

Result

Allowed

Bench

D.Y. Chandrachud, M.R. Shah

Citation

[2021] 2 S.C.R. 229 : 2021 INSC 161

Headnote

Bail:

Grant of bail – By High Court – To the five respondent-accused charged under provisions of IPC and Arms Act – On the ground of parity with the co-accused who was already granted bail by the High Court – Appeal to Supreme Court seeking cancellation of bail – Held: The bail granted by High Court to the co-accused was cancelled by Supreme Court – Since the bail granted to the present respondent-accused was on the ground of parity, their bail also liable to be cancelled – However, the respondents are granted one more opportunity to apply for bail before High Court, subject to their surrendering pursuant to the present order cancelling their bail.

Allowing the appeals, the Court

HELD: 1. Ex facie, the orders of the High Court would indicate that the only basis for claiming bail in the present batch of cases was by placing reliance on the order granting bail to the co-accused. Since bail has been granted to all the respondentaccused who have claimed parity on the basis of the order granting bail to the co-accused, there can be no manner of doubt that the cancellation of bail by this Court that was granted to the co-accused by High Court, must have a similar consequence insofar as the grant of bail to the remaining five accused is concerned. The orders passed by the High Court granting bail to the five respondent-accused shall stand cancelled. [Paras 14, 18(i)][236A-B; 237-B-C]

Panchanan Mishra vs. Digambar Mishra (2005) 3 SCC

143 : [2005] 1 SCR 484 – referred to.

2. Nonetheless, in order to ensure fairness to the coaccused, who are the respondents in these proceedings, it would be appropriate to furnish them an opportunity to apply for bail before the High Court, conditional on their surrendering in pursuance of the present order cancelling their bail. [Para 18] [237-A-B]

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DR. DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD, J. 1. Permission to file the Special Leave Petitions granted. 2. Leave granted. 3. A batch of five Special Leave Petitions (SLP) under Article 136 of the Constitution has arisen from the orders passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad granting bail to the five respondentaccused, namely: (i) Kiranpal; (ii) Sundar; (iii) Rakesh; (iv) Satish; and (v) Dharmendra. 4. The circumstances which have led to the registration of the first information report1 being Case Crime No 414 of 2019 against the accuse

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