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Lachhman Dass v. Resham Chand Kaler & Ors.

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 50Decided 23 Jan 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 161 of 2018
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer

Background

Three connected criminal appeals arose from a violent incident during a land dispute in which one person was shot dead and several others, including the complainant's family, were injured. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted regular bail to three different accused persons: the alleged "kingpin" of the conspiracy (a British national), a co-accused tied to him by parity, and a third accused who had engineered his own bail through a chain of orders between the High Court and the trial court. The complainant/appellant challenged all three bail grants before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that while this was not a case of cancelling bail for breach of conditions, it was entitled to examine whether the High Court's bail orders were legally sustainable where relevant material had not been properly considered. On the facts, CCTV/CD evidence, the seriousness of the offence, and the accused's alleged role as the key conspirator, the Court found a strong prima facie case and held that foreign nationality was no ground for special leniency under Section 439 CrPC. It set aside bail for the first accused; set aside bail for the second accused automatically, since his bail had been granted purely on parity with the first; and set aside bail for the third accused separately, criticizing the High Court for effectively directing the trial court to grant bail through an interim order, an improper intrusion on the subordinate court's independence, while also noting he had been declared a proclaimed offender, a fact the High Court had ignored. All three accused were ordered taken into custody immediately.

Lesson Learnt

A bail order can be struck down on appeal not only for breach of bail conditions but also where the granting court failed to properly weigh the material on record (such as the gravity of the offence or a proclaimed-offender status); and higher courts should not use interim orders to effectively dictate a subordinate court's bail decision.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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