Full Judgment Text
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Reportable
2023 INSC 1089
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.15585 of 2023
Rajpal
…Petitioner (s)
Versus
State of Rajasthan
…Respondent (s)
O R D E R
1. Learned counsel for the petitioner, after arguing for some time,
sought permission to withdraw this special leave petition. Recording
the said submission, this special leave petition is dismissed as
withdrawn, but with the following observation touching the
recurrence of a situation occurring despite the repeated orders of
this Court made with a view to avert such situations.
2. On going through the pleadings in the special leave petition, it
is evident that the case of the petitioner is founded on the claim of
parity, in view of the factual position that his co-accused was
granted bail by a Coordinate Bench of the High Court of Judicature
for Rajasthan, Bench at Jaipur but his application for bail was
rejected. True that the impugned judgment would reveal that even
after going through the order dated 29.08.2023 passed in the case
of co-accused by the Coordinate Bench, the Bench concerned took
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exception to it stating that the judgment of this Court in Narcotics
Control Bureau v. Mohit Aggarwal, reported in (2022) 6 WLC
58 (SC) was not taken into consideration.
3. In view of the grant of permission to withdraw the special leave
petition, we do not think it necessary to delve into the matter any
further. However, we have to reiterate the concern of this Court on
the lethargy in following the earlier orders in the matter of dealing
with bail applications arising out of the same FIR to avoid conflicting
decisions. We shall not be understood to have said that at all
circumstances co-accused in such cases are invariably entitled to
parity and that such entitlement is certainly dependent on various
relevant facts and factors.
4. A three-Judge Bench of this Court in SLP (Crl.) No.7203 of 2023
as per order dated 31.07.2023, took note of such a situation and
observed as follows:-
“7. We have come across various matters from the High Court
of Allahabad, wherein matters arising out of the same FIR are
placed before different Judges. This leads to anomalous
situation. Inasmuch as some of the learned Judges grant bail
and some other Judges refuse to grant bail, even when the
role attributed to the applicants is almost similar.
8. We find that it will be appropriate that all the matters
pertaining to one FIR are listed before the same Judge so that
there is consistency in the orders passed.”
5.
After making such observations, this Court issued a direction to
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the Registrar (Judicial) of this Court to communicate the said order
to the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court of Allahabad.
6. Now, taking note of the fact that such situations are occurring
in other High Courts as well, we are of the view that the Registrar
(Judicial) of the Registry of this Court be directed to communicate
this order along with a copy of the order dated 31.07.2023 in SLP
(Crl.) No.7203 of 2023 to the Registrar (Judicial) of all the High
Courts. On their receipt, they shall place the orders before the
Hon’ble Chief Justice of the respective High Courts.
……………………, J.
(C.T. Ravikumar)
……………………, J.
(Sanjay Kumar)
New Delhi;
December 12, 2023.