What Is The Case
● After being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation, All India Trinamool Congress leaders Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, and Sovan Chatterjee were granted interim bail by a Special CBI court on Monday (CBI).
● One of them, Madan Mitra, is an MLA, while two of them, Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, are sitting ministers in the State cabinet. Chatterjee is a former mayor of Kolkata.
● Anupam Mukherjee, a special CBI judge, issued the order.
● The CBI arrested all four of them from their homes on Monday morning. Following the arrest, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee staged a sit-in outside the CBI office in Kolkata.
● The Court stated in its order that the CBI had not requested the four accused's custody for questioning, but rather judicial custody, which cannot be used as a reason for their detention.
Details
● The stay order was issued by a division bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice Rajnish Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee in response to the CBI's request for a transfer of proceedings, citing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's dharna against the arrest of TMC ministers.
● The High Court took notice of Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta's submissions that the State's law minister arrived at the court where the accused were to be addressed with a crowd of 2000-3000 supporters who stayed in the court during the proceedings.
Interim Bail Granted
● In granting bail to the convicted, the Court cited a recent Supreme Court decision recommending decongestion of prisons to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
● "The Hon'ble Apex Court is also of the opinion that overcrowding of the accused in the prison can result in COVID-19 infection, which should not be encouraged, and accordingly, the Hon'ble Apex Court has instructed the authorities concerned to decongest the prison to avoid infection in between the inmates," the Court said.
● "Taking into account all of these factors, the accused persons, Sir Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, and Sovan Chatterjee (are) given interim bail," the Court ruled.
● They must post bail bonds of Rs. 50,000 each with two sureties of Rs. 25,000 each in order to be released.
● They must cooperate with the IO in any further investigation, and they must report to the IO every two weeks before further notice, according to the Court. The Court stated that default would result in judicial custody until May 31, 2021.
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