Supreme Court refuses to take up Maudany’s plea
By IANSTuesday, August 17, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Tuesday declined to entertain People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Abdul Nazir Maudany’s plea for anticipatory bail as it became irrelevant after his arrest for the 2008 Bangalore bombings earlier in the day.
Maudany, an accused in the July 25, 2008 Bangalore bombings in which one person was killed and 15 injured, was arrested Tuesday by a contingent of Karnataka and Kerala police in Kollam in Kerala.
An apex court bench of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice T.S. Thakur said Maudany could apply for regular bail in the trial court and that would also include scope for interim bail till an application for regular bail was decided.
The apex court said that the trial court was bound to hear his plea for interim bail on the same day.
The moment the bench took up the matter for hearing, standing counsel for Karnataka Sanjay Hegde informed the court that Maudany had been arrested in Kerala by Karnataka police.
Senior counsel Pinaki Mishra, who appeared for Maudany, said that his client was arrested half an hour ago just to frustrate the hearing of his plea for anticipatory bail in the apex court.
The apex court said that Maudany’s bail application in the trial court would be heard without being prejudiced by the earlier observation of Karnataka High Court while rejecting his plea for anticipatory bail.
When Mishra sought the directions that the bail application should be heard on the same day, the court asked how it could pass such an order. However, the court asked the trial court to hear the matter expeditiously.
Mishra said his client was barred from getting bail under the Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act.
He also argued that the relevant provisions of the act were added after his client was made an accused in the case. The act could not be applied in Maudany’s case with retrospective effect.
The high court while rejecting Maudany’s plea for anticipatory bail Aug 3 observed that the Bangalore serial blasts were a “terrorists act”.
Rejecting Maudany’s plea the high court had also said that offences committed by him were squarely covered under the act.
On July 9, a fast track court rejected Maudany’s plea for anticipatory bail.
