Top court declines CBI plea and seeks speedy High Court hearing
Lalu Yadav bail
Lalu Prasad Yadav got considerable relief from the Supreme Court in the Deoghar fodder scam case.
The court did not cancel the bail of Lalu Yadav. It also did not stay the bail order of Jharkhand High Court.
Prior to this, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed an application for cancellation of bail of Lalu Yadav.
But the Supreme Court did not provide any relief to CBI’s application.
Before this, the Jharkhand High Court provided bail to Lalu Yadav on the ground of health.
The Supreme Court did not intervene in this matter also.
Additionally, the court said that Lalu Yadav has been on bail for last seven years.
The court also pointed out that the appeal has been pending from 2018.
Hence, the Supreme Court asked the Jharkhand High Court to hear the appeal promptly.
In the hearing of the case, the Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju questioned the decision of High Court.
According to him, the suspension of sentence was based on wrong factual assumptions.
It was also mentioned by him that there were two earlier instances where the suspension of sentence had been refused.
According to him, the third request was granted because it was claimed that Lalu had served 50 percent of his sentence.
However, he asserted that the calculation was legally wrong.
Section 427 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was referred to by him.
The section asserts that separate convictions should have consecutive sentences unless otherwise directed.
In other words, the second sentence should start only after the completion of the first sentence.
It was alleged by him that the High Court incorrectly treated several convictions as one sentence.
In his statement, Justice J.B. Sundresh enquired about the situation regarding the pending appeal.
It was clarified by ASG that the appeal had not been taken up till now.
It was also accepted that there was some delay in the procedure.
The assurance was given by Justice M.M. Sundresh that the appeal would be expedited.
The case must be listed for hearing within six months.
