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Informist, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Friday held that only in rare and exceptional cases can "revisional" courts take the "extreme step" of staying an order discharging an accused. These exceptional cases include those where the order to discharge an accused is "ex-facie perverse". Such discharge should, however, be stayed only after giving the accused an opportunity to be heard, a bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said.

 

Moreover, the bench said, while granting the stay, the court concerned must mould the relief so that the trial does not proceed against the discharged accused. If the trial against the discharged accused proceeds before the revision application against an order of discharge is decided, the final outcome of the revision will become a "fait accompli", it said.

 

The apex court set aside an order of the Delhi High Court to ex-parte stay the discharge of Sikh leader and former president of the Jammu and Kashmir State Gurdwara Parbandhak Board, Sudershan Singh Wazir, in connection with the murder of former National Conference legislator Trilochan Singh Wazir in September 2021. The court also rejected the high court's order to direct Wazir to surrender before the trial court.

 

The Supreme Court asked the Delhi High Court to decide the revision application filed by the Delhi police against the discharge granted to Wazir in 2023, and directed Wazir to appear before the sessions court within four weeks and "furnish bail effective" till disposal of the revision application.

 

The bench said it is well settled that an order of acquittal further strengthens the presumption of innocence of an accused. Therefore, as a rule, where an order under Section 390 of the Criminal Procedure Code is passed by a court, the accused must be admitted to bail rather than committing him to prison.

 

"It is well settled in our jurisprudence that bail is the rule and jail is the exception," the bench said. "This rule must be applied while exercising power under Section 390 of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code), as the position of the acquitted accused is on a higher pedestal than an accused facing trial."

 

Section 390 states that when an appeal is presented against an order of discharge, the high court may issue a warrant directing that the accused be arrested and brought before it or a subordinate court, and the court before which he is brought may send him to prison pending disposal of the appeal, or grant him bail.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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