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Motamarri Appanna Veerraju @ MAV Raju v. The State of West Bengal

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 216Decided 20 Feb 2020
Criminal Appeal Nos. 328-331 of 2020
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice Dinesh Maheshwari

Background

The appellant was accused in a case involving criminal breach of trust, forgery and corruption-related offences. His regular bail application, filed before the Calcutta High Court in August 2018, was never finally decided, instead the High Court kept granting him a series of interim bail orders over roughly 15 months, continuing an interim protection first granted in October 2018 without ever ruling on the actual bail plea. When the appellant sought a modification of the interim order, that too was rejected, prompting him to approach the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court expressed clear displeasure at the High Court's practice of repeatedly extending interim bail instead of deciding the bail application itself, calling such protracted, piecemeal handling of bail "wholly unfathomable" for a constitutional court and something that must be avoided. Rather than sending the matter back, the Court itself decided to dispose of the long-pending bail application directly, in the interest of justice. It granted regular bail on a modified set of conditions: a higher bail bond (Rs. 25 lakh with two sureties), travel and residence restrictions, passport retention by the investigating agency, and a monthly reporting requirement to the investigating officer.

Lesson Learnt

Bail applications are meant to be decided promptly and finally, not kept alive indefinitely through repeated interim orders: if a court lets this happen for too long, a higher court may step in and resolve the application itself rather than send it back for more delay.

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

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