Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Gopisetty Harikrishna vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh on 20 April, 2022
Bench: S. Ravindra Bhat, Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha
1
MOST URGENT/OUT TODAY
ITEM NO.22 COURT NO.2 SECTION II
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No.4685/2020
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 15-11-2019
in CRLA No.414/2015 passed by the High Court Of Andhra Pradesh At
Amravati)
GOPISETTY HARIKRISHNA Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH Respondent(s)
(IA No. 87106/2020 - FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED
JUDGMENT)
Date : 20-04-2022 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. RAVINDRA BHAT
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA
For Petitioner(s) Ms. Mahalakshmi Pavani, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Revathy Raghavan, AOR
Ms. Mahimai Antoni Jeyam, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, AOR
Mr. Polanki Gowtham, Adv.
Mr. Shaik Mohamad Haneef, Adv.
Mr. T. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, Adv.
Ms. Rajeshwari Mukherjee, Adv.
Mr. K.V. Girish Chowdary, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
This Court by its order dated 28.09.2020 had issued notice to the State and having regard to the record which bore out Signature Not Verified submissions on behalf of the petitioner that he was incarcerated Digitally signed by Dr. Mukesh Nasa Date: 2022.04.20 16:36:39 IST Reason: for more than nine years, directed as follows: 2
“The petitioner shall be produced before the Trial Court within three days from today and the Trial Court shall release him on interim bail on such terms and conditions as the Trial Court may deem appropriate.” Upon being mentioned, this petition was taken up on 18.04.2022 when the Court was informed that the interim bail directed on the earlier date could not be availed of.
Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, learned Standing Counsel for the State, upon instructions, submitted that the concerned Court apparently adopted a very technical and strict approach. The letter dated 30.10.2020 written by Mr. N. Venkaiah, Legal Aid Counsel, Nellore was produced, which inter alia reads as under:
“I being the Jail visiting Advocate appointed by the District Legal Services Authority, Nellore, visited the central prison to assist the prisoners during the COVID- 19 period and during my visit the Superintendent, Central Prison, Nellore, brought to my notice that one Gopi Setty Hari Krishna, S/o Venkateswarlu was sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for Life and the convict prisoner made an appeal in CRLA No.414/2015 before the Hon’ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh and following the upheld of sentence by the Hon’ble High Court of A.P., the prisoner went to appeal to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, and the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India granted bail to the petitioner on 28.09.2020 and directed the Superintendent of Central Prison to produce the accused before the Trial Court and the Trial Court shall release him on interim bail, and the said order was received on 06.10.2020. As it was the COVID-19 period and there was no physical appearance of prisoners before the Court during that period, as per the directions of Hon’ble DLSA, Nellore and as per the request of the Superintendent of Central Prison, Nellore, I have filed a bail petition before the Hon’ble I Addl. District and Sessions Court (Trial Court), Nellore and the same was numbered as CF no.215/2020 and the Hon’ble Trial Court returned the bail petition on the grounds that the petition is not filed within the stipulated time as per the directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.” 3 It was submitted by Mr. Nazki that having regard to this Court’s observations, the petitioner would be produced in the Court during the course of the day if not already produced before the concerned Court.
Another letter dated 18.04.2022 issued by the Special Judge for Trial of Offences under SCs and STs (POA) Act, 1989-cum-V Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Nellore, SPSR Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh, has also been placed for our perusal.
This Court is distressed at the view adopted by the learned Special Judge for Trial of Offences under SCs and STs (POA) Act, 1989-cum-Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Nellore, who appears to have read the three days’ period indicated in the order dated 28.09.2020 in an inflexible manner as if it were provisions of the statute.
In the circumstances, the concerned Court is directed to forthwith take steps and release the petitioner, on his personal bond without insisting on local sureties.
The concerned Court is at liberty to impose any other conditions including the condition of reporting periodically to the local police as may be appropriate in the circumstances.
The documents submitted by Mr. Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, learned Standing Counsel for the State and the letter dated 18.04.2022 received from the Special Judge for Trial of Offences under SCs and Sts (POA) Act, 1989-cum-V Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Nellore, SPSR Nellore District, Andhra Pradesh, are hereby directed to be taken on record.
4List this matter to report compliance and for further consideration on 25.04.2022.
(MUKESH NASA) (VIRENDER SINGH)
COURT MASTER BRANCH OFFICER