What Is The Case
● The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Calcutta High Court order of May 17 in which the High Court stayed interim bail granted to four TMC leaders in the Narada case by the special CBI court late at night.
● Special benches are normally formed to defend liberty, according to Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai, but in this case, the opposite happened.
● "To preserve liberty, a special bench has been assigned. This is the first time a separate bench has been appointed to revoke liberty "Justice Gavai remarked.
Details Of The Case
● The Court was hearing an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation challenging a May 21 Calcutta High Court order in the same case, in which four senior TMC leaders were granted house arrest as an interim measure rather than being held in judicial custody.
● The CBI's Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the actions of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other top TMC leaders after the CBI arrested the accused had tainted the environment and that the special CBI court's order granting bail could not be upheld on that basis.
● Although Banerjee went to the CBI office with her supporters and sat on a dharna, the State Law Minister went to the special CBI court complex with his supporters.
● The Bench, on the other hand, disagreed with the Solicitor General, arguing that cases concerning TMC ministers must be considered individually and cannot be used to affect the accused's bail.
● "We must determine whether or not bail must be issued. Many options exist for dealing with other problems. Take action against officials like this "The Court made a statement.
● "We've all been subjected to pressure. In 2013, I was hearing an anticipatory bail plea in Aurangabad when Mahila morcha protesters entered the courtroom. The police asked me not to issue orders, but I did so in an open courtroom "Justice Gavai retold the storey.
Courts’ Observation
● The CBI arrested the four leaders on May 17: Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra, and Sovan Chatterjee.
● They were granted temporary bail by a special CBI court that evening, but it was stayed by the High Court the next day, the order is issued after 10 p.m.
● The stay was granted after the CBI requested a transfer of the case from the court handling it, citing a danger to the investigation agency on the grounds that TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, and TMC ministers were sitting on a dharna outside the agency's office at Nizam Palace, obstructing justice and instilling terror.
● The CBI arrested the four leaders on May 17: Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra, and Sovan Chatterjee.
● They were granted temporary bail by a special CBI court that evening, but it was stayed by the High Court the next day, the order is issued after 10 p.m.
● The stay was granted after the CBI requested a transfer of the case from the court handling it, citing a danger to the investigation agency on the grounds that TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, and TMC ministers were sitting on a dharna outside the agency's office at Nizam Palace, obstructing justice and instilling terror.
● The Calcutta High Court then heard the case in detail on May 19. The hearing remained unresolved and was set to resume on May 21. The judges on the Division Bench, Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee disagreed on whether the four accused should be granted temporary bail.
● In the meantime, the Division Bench ordered that the four TMC leaders be put under house arrest, in accordance with the Supreme Court's order in the Gautam Navlakha case in the Bhima Koregaon matter.
● This is what sparked the current Supreme Court appeal.
● The trial is already going on.
What do you think about this case?
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