SC sets aside HC order on strictures against judicial officer

The Supreme Court has set aside an order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court by which action was recommended against a judicial officer for granting bail to an accused within four days of rejection of his prearrest bail by a higher court The high court had termed the action of the magistrate as judicial impropriety and gross indiscipline and recommended the chief justice to take appropriate action on the administrative sideIt had set aside the order of magistrate and cancelled the bail plea of an accused arrested for allegedly giving fake educational degrees to students for money A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said the approach of the high court was erroneous in law and set aside the order of single judge of the high courtMerely because an application for anticipatory bail preferred by the appellant was rejected it could not be said that thereafter the magistrate was precluded from even considering the application for grant of regular bail the bench saidThe top court said The grounds for grant of anticipatory bail are altogether different from that of regular bail No doubt anticipatory bail was rejected on August 26 2016 and within four days thereafter regular bail was granted However the high court could not have cancelled the bail only on the ground that the anticipatory bail was rejected it saidIt said that the high court was also wrong in observing that in the circumstances the only remedy for the accused was to approach the high court alone as if he was precluded from filing an application for regular bail before the magistrate Advocate D K Thakur appearing for the Himachal Pradesh government claimed that the accused had threatened the complainant immediately after coming out on bailThe top court said it was an event that occurred after the accused came out on bail and could be a ground which could be raised by the complainant before a trial court for cancellation of bail An FIR was lodged at Dharamshala police station of Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh The accused Chander Kant was charged with the offences of forgery criminal conspiracy criminal breach of trust and other sections of IPCAfter registration of the FIR and when the probe was pending the accused had moved high court seeking anticipatory bail which was dismissed on August 26 2016 Thereafter the accused was arrested and taken into police custody After his police remand got over he moved a regular bail application which the judicial officer allowed and enlarged him on bail on August 30 2016The complainant challenged the order of magistrate granting bail to the accused before the high court which on June 2 2017 after seeking explanation passed variousstrictures against the judicial officer The judicial officer in her explanation to the high court had said there were direct or indirect directions to grantbail liberally Taking into consideration that anticipatory bail has been rejected but now as the accused remanded to custody and opportunity was given to police for custodial interrogation and recovery I considered it to be a changed circumstanceHowever the single judge in his order said To my mind the action of the magistrate is clearly subversive to judicial discipline and amounts to gross impropriety because so long the order passed by this court was in force the magistrate could not have entertained the application for bail much less granted the bailThe high court said Judicial discipline requires decorum known to law which warrants that the appellate directions should be followed in the hierarchical system bythe court which exists in this countryIt is necessary for each lower tier to accept loyally the decisions of the higher tier The judicial system only works if someone is allowed to have the last word and if that last word once spoken is loyally accepted the bench had said It had said that once the judgement rendered by the high court was absolutely clear and the bail granted to the accused had been rejected by a detailed order then judicial comity discipline concomitance pragmatism poignantly point perforce to observe constitutional propriety and adhere to the decision so rendered by the high courtCatch up on all the latest Mumbai National and International news hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go