The principle of parity has worked in favour of Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa also, who on Tuesday became the 11th person granted bail in the 2G spectrum case. After the Supreme Court granted bail to five accused persons on November 23, the Delhi High Court on Monday invoked the principle of parity to grant bail to Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and four others.
Special Judge O.P. Saini, who had so far dismissed all bail applications moved in his court, granted bail to the Swan promoter stating: “Since as many as 10 co-accused have been admitted to bail by the Supreme Court as well as the High Court, and as the charges against Vinod Goenka [of DB Realty] and Shahid Usman Balwa are almost identical, following the principle of parity, I am inclined to admit him to bail.”
The prosecution did not oppose the bail plea. “As an officer of this court, considering the umbrella charges with individual charges framed against the accused, we are not opposing the bail plea at this juncture in view of the Supreme Court and High Court orders,” CBI special prosecutor U.U. Lalit said.
Mr. Balwa has been in jail since his arrest on February 8 this year. The former Telecom Minister, A. Raja; the former Telecom Secretary, Siddhartha Behura; and Mr. Raja's former Private Secretary, R. K. Chandolia, are the only accused now in judicial custody.
Mr. Chandolia's bail plea was deferred after the prosecution pointed out to Mr. Saini that a distinction had been drawn between “public servants” and “private persons” accused in the case during Mr. Behura's bail hearing in the High Court.
Mr. Lalit said he would prefer to wait until after the High Court order on Mr. Behura's bail plea was delivered before taking a stand on Mr. Chandolia.
One of the conditions imposed while granting Mr. Balwa bail was that he “shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts as may be necessary to the court or any other authority.”
The CBI has been granted liberty to make an application for modification/recall of the bail order if the accused “creates any condition which is not conducive to the holding of a free trial.”
