Yet Another Matter Where High Court Has Referred To Matters Unrelated To Prayer For Bail- Supreme Court While Modifying Azam Khan's Bail Conditions

The appellant had challenged the observations made by the High Court, which were unrelated to decide the bail application filed by him, and the extraneous conditions imposed for the grant of interim/regular bail.

The Bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice J.B. Pardiwala further noted, "The High Court having noted the stand taken by the appellant ought to have dealt with only those aspects of the matter and not ventured into issues which were completely unrelated to the consideration of prayer for bail much less to impose conditions way beyond the need for ensuring the presence of the accused during the investigation or trial of the concerned case."

In a similar case, the Bench of Chief Justice N. V. Ramana had last week stayed all further proceedings with respect to the issues that are not linked to the bail application, that were being considered by the Karnataka High Court Judge, Justice H.P. Sandesh who had recorded in his order passed in a bail application that he received a threat of transfer.

Earlier, the Bench had observed about the matter that the bail applicant before the Karnataka High Court has suffered on account of what transpired in his bail application. "He is the real victim of the circumstances", Tushar Mehta had said.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for the Appellant Azam Khan while ASG SV Raju appeared for the Respondent before the Apex Court.

The Court directed the Joint Magistrate/Deputy District Magistrate to take immediate steps to unseal the property referred to in the communication dated 18.05.2022.

The Court set aside the unrelated part of the order passed by the High Court while retaining the conditions which were relevant for the grant of bail to the Appellant.