Supreme Court stays Rajasthan HC order on arrests

Supreme Court has stayed the Rajasthan High Court order restraining the police from arresting suspects for crimes with a punishment of up to three years in jail, which can be tried by a First Class Magistrate till July 17 in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Rajasthan High Court's single-judge bench order of May 17 wherein it had directed the Director-General of Police to make no arrests for offenses with punishment up to 3 years and can be dealt by a First Class Magistrate, till July 17 in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

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"This court is also of the opinion that the arrests of accused in cases where imprisonment extends up to 3 years and can be tried by a First Class Magistrate under present circumstances," observed Justice Prakash Bhandari's bench while restraining the police from arrests.

The single-judge bench had also directed the registrar of Jaipur bench and Jodhpur bench not to list bail applications for crimes that have a maximum sentence of 3 years and can be tried by First Class Magistrate till court reopens after summer vacations. He had reasoned that there are a lot of pending bail pleas and the five judges of the Jaipur bench had to hear them in addition to the already assigned cases.

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Senior Advocate Vijay Hansaria appearing for the High Court, which had itself filed an appeal against its single-judge bench order, contended that the Chief Justice can only decide on the listing of cases. Last year also similar order was passed by Justice Bhandari's bench which was ultimately stayed by the Supreme Court.

The top court bench comprising of Justice Vineet Saran and Justice BR Gavai put a stay on the no listing of bail applications order as well. It issued notice on the plea returnable by 6 weeks and asked for the counter-affidavits to be filed in the meantime.

The matter will be heard again by the top court after six weeks.

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