The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the Uttar Pradesh Government seeking the cancellation of bail granted to MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s sons Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari in a land dispute case.
The two-judge bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R. Subhash Reddy said,
“We do not find any error in the High Court order granting interim relief in the case. The Lucknow High Court will hear the case tomorrow and thus we would not interfere. SLP dismissed.”
The Court was hearing the Special Leave Petition filed by the State of Uttar Pradesh challenging the order of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court dated October 21, 2020, by which it had granted interim relief to the Ansari brothers from arrest in a case of alleged illegal occupation of government land.
An FIR was lodged against the MLA and his two sons Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari in Hazratganj police station of Lucknow in August 2020 on charges of illegal occupation.
The charges included criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
“As to whether right, interest and title in the land in question has devolved upon the petitioners lawfully or not, is not the issue here. Even if it is assumed that no right, interest or title legally devolved upon the petitioners, they can be deprived of such right being claimed by them and can also be evicted from the land in question by taking recourse to appropriate proceedings which may be permissible under law, however, such alleged illegal devolution of right in itself will not prima facie constitute any offence, against the petitioners in the facts and circumstances as disclosed in this case,”
-the High Court had noted in its order.
Also Read: Supreme Court acquits murder convict over prosecution failure to prove motive
“Having regard to the overall facts and circumstances, as discussed above, the petitioners have been able to make out the case for grant of interim relief,” said the two-judge bench of Justices Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Saroj Yadav, Allahabad High Court.
In an order dated October 21, last year the High Court had noted that the investigation in the case would go on and that the petitioners will fully cooperate with the investigating agency.