The Hindu : Front Page : Pappu Yadav's bail cancelled

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 19, 2005

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Pappu Yadav's bail cancelled

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, JAN. 18. The Supreme Court today cancelled the bail granted by the Patna High Court to the Rashtriya Janata Dal member of Parliament, Pappu Yadav, accused in the Ajit Sarkar murder case.

A three-judge Bench comprising Justice N. Santosh Hegde, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan set aside the Patna High Court's order granting bail to Mr. Yadav for the ninth time since he was arrested in the case.

The Bench rejected the argument advanced on behalf of Mr. Yadav that the principle adopted by the apex court in granting bail to the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, should be followed in his case also. The Bench pointed out that while granting bail to the Acharya, the court had not overruled an earlier judgment relating to Mr. Yadav, but had only distinguished the facts of that case from the facts of the present case.

The Bench thereby allowed the appeals filed by Kalyan Chandra Sarkar, brother of the deceased, Ajit Sarkar, a CPI(M) activist, and the Central Bureau of Investigation challenging the High Court order. The Bench observed that it was a well-settled principle that while considering the ruling laid down in one case, the court would have to bear in mind that every judgment must be read as applicable to the particular facts proved or assumed to be true.

Prima facie case

The judges made it clear that it was not necessary to weigh the evidence against Mr. Yadav at this stage since they had come to the conclusion that the prosecution on the basis of the material available on record had established a prima facie case against the accused. "We are also of the opinion that the conduct of the respondent (Mr. Yadav) as brought on record clearly indicates that enlarging the said accused on bail would impede the progress of the trial," the Bench said and set aside the High Court order dated September 21, 2004 and dismissed Mr. Yadav's bail application.

Shifting of case

The Bench adjourned to February 1 the hearing on a plea for shifting him from Beur Jail at Patna to a prison outside the State. The Bench indicated that it would even consider shifting the cases outside the State.

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