In yet another set back to AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday refused to release her on bail and rejected her plea for suspending the four-year prison sentence imposed by the trial court on September 27 in the disproportionate assets case.
The court also rejected similar pleas of the other convicts in the case — V.K. Sasikala, V.N. Sudhakaran and J. Elavarasi.
Ms. Jayalalithaa and others may now have to move the Supreme Court for bail. The court adjourned the hearing of the appeal to October 24. The court’s rejection of bail came despite Special Public Prosecutor G. Bhavani Singh telling the Court that “he has no objection for the release of the convicts on conditional bail.” Justice A.V. Chandrashekara said in his order that “no ground has been made out” by the convicts for suspending the sentence.
Referring to the contention that Ms. Jayalalithaa was entitled to release on bail as she was on bail throughout the trial without causing prejudice to the proceedings, he said suspension of the sentence and release on bail could not be an automatic process when the higher court admits an appeal against conviction. Seeking bail as an under-trial and as a convict stood on different planks, legally, he said. He also quoted verdicts in which the Supreme Court had described corruption as a human rights violation that led to systematic economic offences.
