Allahabad High Court Grants Interim Relief To AAP MP Sanjay Singh In 2001 Protest Case
Image Courtesty: The Indian Express
In an interim relief to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in connection with a 2001 case, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday stayed the process issued against him by a Court in Sultanpur till today (August 22), the day when the HC is set to hear his bail pela.
It may be noted that Sultanpur Court on August 20 ordered the UP police officials to arrest and produce Singh before it on August 28. The order was passed after Singh skipped the hearing in the case.
However, staying the issuance of process, a bench of Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar on Wednesday directed that he need not surrender before the Trial Court till August 22 in view of the fact that his revision plea for admission and bail application would be coming for hearing on Thursday.
“…there is no requirement of surrendering before the court and to be confined in jail before entertaining the revision petition,” the Court remarked in its order.
The interim order was passed after Singh's counsel submitted to the court that, as an RS MP, Singh has to attend a meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, on August 22. Therefore, he may be exempted from surrendering/appearing before the court concerned.
On the other hand, the A.G.A. for the State, while referring to Rule 18 Chapter XVIII of Allahabad High Court Rules, submitted that no application for bail could be entertained unless the accused has surrendered except where he has been released on bail after conviction under Section 389(3) CrPC.
It was further submitted that since Singh has not yet surrendered and sought bail and as such, the present revision petition is not maintainable.
However, the Court refuted this argument by observing that the said Rule 18 was no bar to the inherent power of the High Court to exempt the requirement of surrender in exceptional situations.
“It cannot, thus, be argued that prohibition against filing a revision petition for admission applies even to a situation where on an application of the revisionist, on a case being made out, the Court, in the exercise of its inherent power, considers it appropriate to grant exemption from surrender having regard to the nature and circumstances of a case,” the Court observed as it granted interim relief to Singh.
The Court also stressed that a criminal revision is maintainable before the High Court even if the applicant is not in confinement.
It may be noted that in June 2001, a demonstration was held in Sultanpur, where former SP MLA Anoop Sanda, Sanjay Singh, and others protested against the state's poor power supply.
A case was lodged against them, and after the trial, six were convicted in the case in January last year, and they were awarded three months imprisonment.
Earlier this month, all six convicts were directed to appear before the MP/MLA court; however, after they failed to appear, a non-available warrant was issued against all of them.