HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday expressed surprise over a political party`s petition before the High Court in a criminal case related to the alleged attempt to poach TRS MLAs, and how the Telangana High Court had accepted it.
While hearing the petition filed by Ramachandra Bharathi and others accused, challenging the High Court's order to them to surrender and their remand, a bench comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice B.V. Nagarathna inquired asked why the petitioners did not file for bail.
Senior counsel Vishwanathan, appearing for the three accused, said they were arrested against the orders of the Supreme Court. Section 41 of CrPC said that no arrest should be made without giving notice in cases where the punishment is less than seven years, he said.
Justice Gavai asked whether bail was being given on the same day in trap cases where cash is found. Senior advocate for the state government, Siddharth Luthra, said that if they were found to have committed a crime, they could be arrested.
Luthra said that a political party had filed a petition in the High Court, apprehending that the police may not investigate the case and seeking an independent agency probe. Based on this, another bench had deferred the investigation till Monday .
The bench observed, “The present petition and the pending petition in the High Court will not be a bar to the trial court judge to consider the petitioner's bail application. It is not necessary to tell the trial court to consider the petitions on merits,” and adjourned the hearing to November 7.
