The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday allowed a petition filed by O. Raja, brother of Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam, seeking a direction to a lower court to dispose of a bail application to be filed by him on the day of his surrender in a case booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Justice M.M. Sundresh granted the relief after recording the submissions of the petitioner’s counsel, R. Gandhi, that there would be no necessity for custodial interrogation of Mr. Raja since the Thenkarai police in Theni district had already completed the investigation and filed a charge sheet before a Judicial Magistrate Court at Periyakulam on June 4.
The judge also pointed out that the High Court had granted anticipatory bail to the petitioner in the case in December 2012 when the police had booked Mr. Raja and other accused only under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC following the death of a Dalit priest S. Nagamuthu who had left behind a suicide note naming the people responsible for his death.
It was only at the time of filing the final report before the Judicial Magistrate that Section 3(2)(5) of the SC/ST Act was also pressed against the accused. Since it happened to be a non-bailable provision, Mr. Raja had approached the court expressing his willingness to surrender before the court and sought a direction to the Sessions Court to consider granting him bail on the day of surrender.
The father of the deceased, N. Subburaj, opposed the plea arguing that bail could not be granted on the day of surrender without affording sufficient time to the prosecution to put forth its case.
Mr. Justice Sundresh directed Mr. Raja to surrender within three weeks and serve copies of his bail application, in advance, on the prosecutor concerned as well as the complainant’s counsel.
