Gulshan @ Khati vs. State of NCT of Delhi
Background
Gulshan @ Khati was accused in a 2019 case involving cheating, forgery, and fake Aadhaar-related offences, with additional charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). While his regular bail application was pending in the High Court, he separately approached the trial court for interim bail and got it, without properly informing the trial court that his High Court bail application was still pending.
Decision Breakdown
The Court found that Gulshan had effectively misled the trial court by only slipping in a vague line about the pending High Court case, rather than disclosing it clearly, and had no real explanation for bypassing the High Court. The Court held this amounted to playing a fraud on both courts, dismissed his bail application outright, and directed that a copy of the order be sent to the trial court, asking it to explain within a week how it came to grant interim bail without being properly told about the pending High Court proceedings.
Lesson Learnt
Trying to get bail through one court while concealing a pending bail application in another is treated by courts as a serious abuse of process: it can result not just in dismissal but in the matter being referred back for scrutiny of how the other order was even passed.