The Supreme Court has reinforced that bail orders should be precise and should expeditiously disposed without detailed elaboration of evidence.
The Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sanjay Karol granted bail to Kadar Inamdar, accused in the murder of Shiv Sena leader Rahul Shetty, on May 10.
While pronouncing the verdict, the Court referred to its order from last month, wherein it had deprecated the practice of detailed elaboration of evidence in bail orders and had urged all courts in the country to ensure that bail orders were not lengthy and were pronounced on time.
The Court has recently deprecated the practice of detailed elaboration of evidence in the orders granting or rejecting the anticipatory bail.
This Court also depreciated the practice of long delay between reserving the matter for order and pronouncing the order.
It said that in the matters pertaining to liberty of citizens, the courts were expected to decide the maters expeditiously.
The Bench was hearing an appeal filed by Inamdar, challenging a September 29 Bombay High Court order rejecting his bail plea.
The Supreme Court noted that the Bombay High Court order refusing bail to Inamdar ran into 16 pages and was delivered almost three months after it was reserved.
The Court also noted that the State government had not filed an appeal against grant of bail by the Bombay High Court to another accused in the same case.
It said in the present case, the order was pronounced almost three months after it was reserved.
After perusing the charge sheet as well as the impugned order, the Apex Court observed that cannot be said that the role of the petitioner herein stand on a higher pedestal than that of the co-accused, as the petitioner has been incarcerated for about two-and-a-half years, while the charges were yet to be framed.
The Court, therefore, directed that Indamdar be released on bail subject to the terms set by the trial court.
Advocates Sana Raees Khan, Sriram Parakkat, Vishnu Shankar, Aditya Santhosh and Nachiketa Vajpayee appeared for the petitioner.
Advocates Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Bharat Bagla and Sourav Singh represented the respondents.
The top court had in December observed that bail applications should not be heard by courts for more than 10 minutes. Lengthy hearings lasting for days in bail matters were a waste of the court’s time, the Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice AS Oka had said.