Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Ishma Arora vs State Of Nct Of Delhi on 8 January, 2021
Bench: D.Y. Chandrachud, Sanjiv Khanna
SLP(Crl) 6245/2020
1
ITEM NO.34 Court 5 (Video Conferencing) SECTION II-C
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No.6245/2020
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 03-11-2020
in BA No. 3349/2020 passed by the High Court of Delhi at New Delhi)
ISHMA ARORA Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
STATE OF NCT OF DELHI Respondent(s)
(With appln.(s) for I.R. and IA No.126682/2020-EXEMPTION FROM
FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT)
WITH S.L.P.(Crl) No.6272/2020 (II-C)
(With appln.(s) for I.R. and IA No.127093/2020-EXEMPTION FROM
FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT and IA No.127090/2020-
APPLICATION FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING TYPED DOCUMENTS)
Date : 08-01-2021 These petitions were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA
For Petitioner(s)
Ms. Nidhi Jaswal, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. S.V. Raju, ASG
Ms. Swarupma Chaturvedi, Adv.
Mr. Vibhu Shankar Mishra, Adv.
Mr. B. V. Balaram Das, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1 Aggrieved by the denial of bail under the provisions of Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, the petitioner has filed these Special Leave Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Chetan Kumar Petitions.
Date: 2021.01.08 17:47:45 IST Reason:SLP(Crl) 6245/2020 2 2 On 11 December 2020, while issuing notice, this Court passed the following order, which contains a narration of relevant submissions:
“1 Ms Ruchi Kohli, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits with respect to the facts of SLP (Crl) No 6245/2020, that FIR 129/2016 alleging offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and Section 120B of the Indian Penal was lodged on 9 August 2016; the petitioner was arrested on 3 December 2018 and the charge-sheet was filed on 2 March 2019.
2 Learned counsel submits with reference to the facts in SLP(Crl) No 6272/2020, that FIR 56/2016 alleging offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and Section 120B and Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code was lodged on 11 May 2016; the petitioner was arrested on 26 February 2020 and the charge-sheet was filed on 3 September 2020.
3 It has been submitted that the petitioner has been in custody since 29 February 2016, since she was arrested in connection with earlier FIRs. The petitioner, it has been submitted, has been granted bail in seventeen out of nineteen cases.
4 Issue notice, returnable in four weeks.
5 Liberty to serve the Standing Counsel appearing on behalf of the State of NCT of Delhi.
6 List the Special Leave Petition on 8 January 2021.”
3 In pursuance of the order of this Court, a counter affidavit has been filed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Economic Offences Wing, New Delhi. The counter affidavit sets out the manner in which several public financial institutions are alleged to have been defrauded by the petitioner and other accused persons (including her spouse) by using fabricated documents. Reference has been made to the fact that the petitioner and her spouse, Nitin Arora, are found to be involved in as many as nineteen cases, details of which are indicated in the following tabulated chart:
SLP(Crl) 6245/2020 3 S. No. Details of FIR Police Final Report Station SLP(Crl) 6245/2020 4 1 FIR No.73/16 dated 30.05.2016 u/s EOW Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 2 FIR No.127/16 dated 09.08.2016 u/s EOW Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 3 FIR No.128/16 dated 09.08.2016 u/s EOW Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 4 FIR No.56/16 dated 11.05.2016 u/s EOW Charge 419/420/467/468/471/120B/34 IPC Sheet Filed 5 RC219 2013 E0008/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 6 RC219 2015 E0009/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 7 RC219 2015 E0010/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 8 RC219 2015 E0011/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 9 RC219 2015 E0012/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 10 RC219 2015 E0013/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 11 RC219 2015 E0013/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 12 RC219 2015 E0014/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 13 RC219 2016 E0001/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 14 RC219 2016 E0002/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 15 RC219 2016 E0004/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 16 RC219 2016 E0006/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 17 RC219 2016 E0010/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 18 RC219 2016 E0011/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed 19 RC219 2016 E0016/CBI/EO1 u/s CBI Charge 420/467/468/471/120B IPC Sheet Filed
4 Though, Ms Ruchi Kohli, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits that the petitioner has been granted bail in seventeen out of SLP(Crl) 6245/2020 5 nineteen cases, Mr S V Raju, learned Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the respondent submitted that there has been no independent application of mind to the nature of the conspiracy and to the involvement of the petitioner and her spouse in such a large number of cases involving public financial institutions. The financial institutions which are alleged to have been defrauded include Union Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Maharashtra and J & K Bank.
5 Having regard to the circumstances, which have been adverted to in the counter affidavit, we are not inclined to grant bail. The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed.
6 However, we are of the considered view that the trials must be expedited.
We direct that all necessary steps shall be taken by the learned Trial Judge(s) to conclude the trials within a period of one year from today. The stage up to the framing of charges shall be completed within six weeks. A certified copy of the order shall be placed on the record of the learned Trial Judge(s) for compliance forthwith.
7 Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
(CHETAN KUMAR) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
A.R.-cum-P.S. Court Master