Bail applications, appeals under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and revisions and appeals with applications for suspension of sentence cannot be considered as matters of extreme urgency when a lockdown was operative in the country to control the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rajasthan High Court has ruled.
The court directed the Registry to not list these applications in the category of “extremely urgent matters” during the lockdown period, while hearing the second bail application of an accused in a criminal matter. All such applications should be listed after the withdrawal of lockdown order by the Union government, the court said.
Justice Pankaj Bhandari at the High Court’s Bench in Jaipur observed that the release of an accused or convict at the cost of breaching the lockdown order, risking the lives of many, could not be considered an urgent matter. “The court also has Holi, Dasara, Diwali and winter vacations, when the bail applications are not taken up.”
Long travel
The judge said the police could not be asked to come to the court with case diaries for the hearing by travelling long distances amid the pandemic. If an order was passed on such applications, the opposite party would be deprived of its right to engage a lawyer and oppose the plea because the lawyers too were abstaining from work following a call given by the Bar Council, the court said.
“Though the right to liberty is a fundamental right and the citizens are free to move anywhere in the country, reasonable restrictions have been imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus,” the court said, refusing to pass an order on the bail application.
