Supreme Court Dismisses Sukesh Chandrashekhar's Plea For Jail Transfer, Reprimands Him For Filing Repeated Petitions

The Supreme Court today(February 18) dismissed a writ petition filed by alleged conman Sukash Chandrashekhar, who is booked under 27 cases including extortion charges, seeking a transfer from Mandoli jail to any jail in the State of Karnataka. As per the two prayers raised in the petition, he sought a transfer from Mandoli jail to his home State of Karnataka or any other State except where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in power.

Initially, the Court orally remarked that the petition has become infructuous because AAP is no more in power in Delhi and therefore, the petitioner can remain here. However, when the Court was informed that the petitioner continued to file petitions after the petition, the Court decided to dismiss the present petition.

A bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and PB Varale observed that this is the fourth time a petition has been filed by the petitioner and this is clearly an abuse of process of law. It initially observed in the order: "However, we cannot resist ourselves expressing that present petitioner has tried to misuse the process of law by filing writ petitions one after the other under the guise of jail circumstances."

However, at the request of, Senior Advocate Shoeb Alam, the petitioner's counsel, the Court modified its order as: "It is expected that the petitioner shall henceforth not try to abuse the process of law. It is needless to say, every citizen has a right to take recourse to legal remedy. However, nobody should be permitted to abuse the process of law."

Justice Trivedi also orally remarked that the Court would impose costs but ultimately decided not to impose it. The Court did not make any observations on the merits of the case.

In 2022, the Supreme Court had allowed his plea for transfer to Mandoli jail from Tihar jail. Another petition, seeking transfer from Mandoli jail to any jail outside, was dismissed in October 2022.

Alam submitted that the undertrial has been lodged in Delhi for the last 6 years and this plea is for the transfer to his home State so that he could stay near his ailing mother. He submitted that all trials in the cases pending against him are at a nascent stage. He said: "The number of witnesses that are going to be examined against me is huge number and the trials involved possible are not going to take short time which is a practical possibility in this case. All of this period, you keep me in Delhi and there is no investigation pending. Nothing pending against me. I was brought here for a particular case and thereafter, I have been here. More than 6 years I have spent in Tihar jail. I was moved to another prison pursuant to orders passed by this hon'ble Court, that is, to Mandoli prison...I have absolutely no other family in Delhi. I have an ailing mother who is 70 years old."

Therefore, relying on Article 21 which also includes speedy trial, he sought transfer. 

Justice Trivedi responded: "I don't understand how this prayer survives. Kindly read your prayer. You have said that, you should be shifted to your home State or any other prison across India except Delhi, Punjab and Haryana where the political Party was Aam Aadmi Party...How could you have filed this another writ petition after the earlier petition seeking same prayer was rejected? We will dismiss it with cost. You can't keep on filing and waste Court's time...This is an abuse of process of law...You have money to spend and you keep in taking chances.

Alam tried to clarify that these are alternative prayers. He prayed that his prayer may be considered as he had not been convicted. However, Justice Trivedi said: "You are involved in 27 cases. You say you are innocent...We are very much concerned about the safety of the people and society. Your fundamental right cannot be enforced at the cost of fundamental rights of other citizen...We are not going into the merits. Earlier, we had heard it at length. What kind of allegations you have made against [jail] officers?...He has all money to engage senior counsels different times. I remember Mr. Patwalia was appearing in this matter."

Alama gain tried his luck and pressed that he may be allowed to come to the Court after some time for relief as ultimately an undertrial prisoner and his Article 21 should be respected and this is not even a case where he is seeking bail. Moreover, his family remains in Karnataka especially his mother who is in no condition to come and meet him in Delhi. Justice Bela orally responded: "No Court will grant you bail...Just ask your mother whether she would like to see you, a son like this? Absolutely gone [case]."

Counsel responded: "Old-adage, Mylady, innocent until proven guilty."

Case Details: SUKASH CHANDRA SHEKHAR @SUKESH AND ANR. Versus THE STATE OF NCT OF DELHI AND ORS.|9, 16 W.P.(Crl.) No. 206/2024 

Click Here To Read/Download Order