Supreme Court to dismiss West Bengal's appeal against interim bail for Congress candidate

A CJI-led bench expressed difficulty to list the matter on Thursday and said, 'Instead of Thursday, we will dismiss the appeal on Monday.'

NEW DELHI: Applying its recently framed policy of rejecting challenges to bails granted by high courts, Supreme Court on Wednesday told the West Bengal govt that it would dismiss the state's appeal against grant of interim bail to Milan Pradhan, Congress candidate for the Nandigram assembly bypoll, who is an accused in a 2007 murder case. A CJI-led bench expressed difficulty to list the matter on Thursday and said, "Instead of Thursday, we will dismiss the appeal on Monday." By Monday, electioneering for the bypoll would be over and the state's appeal would be infructuous. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, requested a bench headed by CJI Surya Kant for a hearing on Thursday of the appeal challenging the grant of interim bail to Pradhan for canvassing for the election scheduled for Oct 6, campaigning for which will end on Oct 4. When the bench said since the HC had granted only interim bail, it would not entertain such an appeal, Mehta brought up Pradhan's history sheet -- accused in a murder case and featuring in six other FIRs on serious crimes -- to request a hearing on Thursday. The HC had, citing the relief the SC gave to AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, granted bail to Pradhan on Tuesday and asked him to surrender before the additional chief judicial magistrate, Haldia, on Oct 21. Counting of votes in Nandigram, which was vacated by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari who also won from Bhabanipur, will happen on Oct 9. The state said in its appeal, "The HC granted interim bail to Pradhan, an accused charged with multiple counts of heinous offences including murder, arson, bomb blasts and rioting with deadly weapons, solely on the untenable pretext of permitting him to participate in an election."

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It added, "The HC completely disregarded settled principles governing the grant of bail, overlooked the respondent's continuous evasion of judicial process for nearly two decades, ignored his active subversion of the criminal justice system, and exposed prosecution witnesses to imminent danger."

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