Curious Case Of Contradictory Bail Orders Uploaded On Jharkhand HC Website: SC Closes Controversy [Read Orders]

We think that it is not necessary to pass any further orders in this regard, the bench said.

The Supreme Court recently closed an issue of the curious case of two contradictory orders of Jharkhand High Court, one rejecting bail and another granting bail, to the husband of Jharkhand’s Congress leader Nirmala Devi.

During the course of hearing of a special leave petition, senior advocate Vivek Tankha, who was appearing for the Congress leader, brought to the notice of the court about two orders which were initially uploaded on the website of the high court but subsequently removed.

In the first part of the order, which ended in the 4^th page of the uploaded file, prayer for bail was rejected. It is followed by a two-page order, in a complete contradiction of the first part of the same order, accepted the bail application and releases the petitioner, Yogendra Sao, on bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 50,000.

A bench of Justice SA Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao responded saying: “We consider this to be a serious matter and having a tendency to bring the administration of justice into disrepute.”

It then requested the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court to conduct an enquiry as to how these orders came into existence and the state in which they were uploaded on the website and removed.

Pursuant to the direction, Justice DN Patel, Acting Chief Justice of the High Court of Jharkhand, submitted report before the bench.

Without further precipitating the matter, the bench said: “We have perused the report of the Hon'ble Acting Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court and we think that it is not necessary to pass any further orders in this regard.”

It  also ordered the release of both Nirmala Devi and Yogendra Sao @ Yogendra Saw on bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs 1 lakh each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the trial court. Some conditions have also been imposed.