Then Jharkhand CM was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31. On 2 February, the Supreme Court refused to hear Soren’s bail plea, and referred him to the Jharkhand High Court — which dragged its feet endlessly until, on 24 April, Soren moved the SC alleging delay by the state high court in hearing his plea. The SC agreed to hear his case beginning 6 May — reminder, here, that this time it was agreeing to hear his complaint against the Jharkhand court. Three days before that hearing in the SC, the Jharkhand High Court woke up and dismissed Soren’s bail application — rendering his case in the SC against the delay pointless. In the Supreme Court today, the two-judge bench says “We sent you to the HC as we do in all cases, but we feel it was wrong”. Kapil Sibal, appearing for Soren, says then please grant us interim bail (which is the bare minimum the SC could have done). The SC says no, come back on May 20. Sibal says at least list it for May 16. Justice Sanjeev Khanna says no, list it for the 20th. Sibal says ok, then we will withdraw the petition. To which Justice Khanna says, “What? We are giving shortest possible time..”. Sibal points to the timeline, the inordinate delay. Justice Khanna says Ok, May 17 then, “but we do not know if it will be heard”. (A live feed of today’s court proceedings here).
104 days have elapsed between the original arrest and the SC giving a fresh date for the case to be heard — with the caveat that there is no guarantee it willbe heard on that date. What is it they say about justice delayed…?
Does the Supreme Court realise what appellant after appellant withdrawing their petitions from the highest court in the land says about the court, and the nature of justice in India?
Soren is one manifestation only. Look at the number of cases where (a) prisoners have been released after months and years on the grounds of no evidence and (b) where people are kept in jail despite there being no case, as for instance Umar Khalid.
Quite shameful as to how the Courts prioritize cases and are denying justice to CM Soren
Soren is one manifestation only. Look at the number of cases where (a) prisoners have been released after months and years on the grounds of no evidence and (b) where people are kept in jail despite there being no case, as for instance Umar Khalid.