The Supreme Court today granted bail to an ophthalmologist, who was the whistleblower in the Vyapam scam, and was arrested by the Madhya pradesh Police in a case over alleged violence during a dharna.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha granted bail to Dr. Anand Rai, keeping in view the period of custody and the facts and circumstances of the case.
Rai was arrested by the state police on November 15, 2022 under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act.
The Madhya Pradesh government had filed an affidavit in the Apex Court, opposing the bail plea of Rai.
The government of Madhya Pradesh has said that considering the seriousness of the crime along with huge impact on society at large, no bail should be granted.
The government stated that Rai has a criminal history and can run away from the process of justice.
A Trial Court had denied bail to Rai on November 17 last year. Last year on December 12, a Single-Judge Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Indore had also denied bail to Rai and rejected his appeal under Section 14(a)(2) of the SC/ST Act.
On November 15, 2022, a first information report (FIR) in the case was registered, after one Vikas Pargi of Bilpank in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam district lodged a complaint under Sections 294, 341, 353, 332, 146, 147, 336, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and several Sections of the SC/ST Act.
As per the FIR, Pargi had gone to attend the Birsa Munda Jayanti celebration in Badachapara on the day of filing the complaint.
He was following the convoy of local Members of Parliament, Legislative Assembly Members and the District Collector, who had gone to attend various activities organised by the government in memory of Birsa Munda.
At around 1 pm near Dharad, he saw several workers obstructing the organisation convoy Jayas, sloganeering and pelting stones, causing bruises on the gunman of the District Collector, according to the FIR.
The name of Anand Raj was with the other 40 -50 other assailants as per complainant.
Although there were no specific allegations of abuse or acts falling under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 or the Indian Penal Code made out in the FIR, the petitioner as well as other co-accused was dragged into the said frivolous proceedings.
The petitioner stated that he was an activist and whistleblower, who exposed the Vypam Scam, in which the investigation unearthed illegalities involving the wards of top-tier politicians and bureaucrats, who were selected in the Madhya Pradesh Medical Entrance Examination, without even appearing for it.
The petitioner said that the whole scam had political patronage. As a corollary, he suffered various transfers and inquiries at the hands of the government.
The petitioner also said that the present case was nothing, but another bout of harassment and conspiracies hatched against him by government functionaries, who intend to cause problems for him at every step.