Summary
In 2018 the Supreme Court awarded compensation to ISRO scientist S. Nambi Narayanan over the 1994 espionage case and set up the Justice D.K. Jain Committee to look at the conduct of the erring officials. On that Committee's report, the CBI registered an FIR in 2021 against former Kerala Police and Intelligence Bureau officials for conspiracy, fabricating records, custodial hurt and related offences. The Kerala High Court granted them anticipatory bail, influenced mainly by the long delay before the FIR. The Supreme Court set aside those orders and remanded the applications for fresh decision within four weeks. The High Court had ignored that the FIR followed the Court's own directions and the Committee's recommendations. It had also not examined each accused's role, position or the allegations against him. Interim protection from arrest was continued, conditional on cooperation.
Issues
- Whether anticipatory bail was rightly granted to former police and IB officials accused in the CBI FIR arising out of the 1994 ISRO espionage case, without examining their individual roles.
Provisions considered
- Section 438, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973Anticipatory bail orders that did not consider each accused's role, position and the allegations against him, or the Committee's recommendations, were set aside and the applications remitted. (¶¶ 4, 5, 6)
- Sections 120B, 167, 218, 323, 330, 348, 365, 477A and 506, Indian Penal Code, 1860Offences alleged in the FIR registered by the CBI on the Justice D.K. Jain Committee report. (¶ 2.3)
Held
- The High Court weighed the delay in lodging the FIR without appreciating that it was registered pursuant to this Court's directions and on the recommendations of the Committee headed by Justice D.K. Jain. (¶ 4)
- In granting anticipatory bail, the High Court did not consider the allegations against each accused, the role played by them, the positions they held in 1994 or their part in the earlier investigation, nor the Committee's recommendations; the orders cannot stand and the applications must be decided afresh. (¶¶ 4, 5, 6)
Result
Criminal Appeal Nos. 2147-2150 of 2022 allowed; the Kerala High Court orders dated 13.08.2021 in Bail Application Nos. 5010, 5109 and 5809 of 2021 and dated 16.11.2021 in Crl. M.P. No. 4424 of 2021 set aside and the applications remitted for fresh decision, preferably within four weeks; no arrest for five weeks or until decision, subject to cooperation, with no view expressed on merits.