Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice UU Lalit to shortly hear the plea filed against the Bombay HC order which dismissed the petition seeking for interim bail on medical grounds of lawyer-activist Sudha Bharadwaj #NIA #SupremeCourt #SudhaBhardwaj
Bharadwaj’s counsel Ragini Ahuja had earlier told the Bombay HC that the activist had been in jail for over two years.
Ahuja had said Bharadwaj had comorbidities that put her at a higher risk of contracting the virus. #COVID19
NIA counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, argued against giving bail to Bharadwaj saying that if her condition required hospital care, the state would provide for it.
Singh had further informed HC that 81-year-old co-accused, Varavara Rao, who was admitted to a state-run facility and then a shifted to the private hospital - on intervention of the National Human Right's Commission - for treatment of COVID-19 and other ailments in July.
Hearing begins.
Senior Adv Vrinda Grover for petitioner : I am in custody since 2 years as an undertrial. charges are not proved. i am only seeking interim bail
Justice Lalit: please check the medical report
Grover: Sudha Bharadwaj is suffering from diabetes and comorbidities
Justice Lalit: she is 58 and is not severely diabetic
Grover: she has developed two diseases in custody. one is a heart disease which is a ticking time bomb. it needs a cardio profile, lipid profile.
Grover: Let me get the check up done. She has also developed arthritis. She has never abused any court order.
Justice Lalit: What is the case
Grover: there is a criminal conspiracy which is set to be hatched by her. she was practicing in bilaspur HC. It is nobodys case that any material is recovered from her but from someone else's phone.
Justice Lalit: Why don't you file a fresh bail plea?
Grover: there is one pending in HC
Justice Lalit: So the application on merits is pending.
Her sugar is 114 and not so serious
Grover: our contention is the heart disease
Justice Lalit: but that is not a part of this plea
Grover: She is suffering osteo arthritis and cardiac issues and this she has developed while in custody. (reads the medical report).
Justice Lalit: the HC order says the medication is in order
Senior Adv Grover: I only seek your indulgence to get checked. These tests cannot happen in the jail hospital
Justice Ajay Rastogi: She was examined on August 20 by jail authorities
Grover reads the medication being given to her by the jail hospital
Justice Rastogi: are you saying this report is false? You have a good case on merits. why don't you file a regular bail application
Justice Lalit: Either you withdraw it or we will dismiss it
Justice Lalit: the condition deserves a deeper look and a regular bail plea can be filed.
Delhi High Court to hear the appeal filed by Gitanjali Angmo, wife of activist Sonam Wangchuk, challenging a single judge order rejecting her plea to discharge Wangchuk from Safdarjung Hospital and transfer to Medanta Hospital.
The matter is listed before Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.
From the government's side, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, ASG Chetan Sharma and standing counsel Ashish Dixit will appear.
Senior advocate Akhil Sibal is likely to appear on behalf of Angmo.
Can a law graduate be denied enrollment as an advocate merely because there is a pending criminal case against them? Supreme Court hears
Bench: Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and R Mahadevan
The case concerns KR Sudersan, a Chartered Accountant by profession who also completed his law degree. When he applied to enroll as an advocate, the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry rejected his application. The Bar Council cited a pending criminal case against him involving Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Bar Council's rejection was rooted in a 2017 judgment by the Madras High Court. That order had directed Bar Councils to prevent the enrollment of law graduates with pending criminal cases. It was intended to be a "temporary measure" to keep people with criminal backgrounds out of the profession until the legislature amended the laws.
Supreme Court hears plea by Delhi Police against Delhi High Court’s decision to allow Devangana Kalita, an accused in the Delhi riots conspiracy case, to inspect the unrelied documents in malkhana - a secure storage room or warehouse inside a police station where physical evidence and seized properties are stored.
Bench: Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi
ASG SV Raju (for Delhi Police): inspection is not warranted. She is not entitled to any documents till the charges are framed. What is the purpose of inspection at this stage? This is unrelied upon documents. I’ve got extracts of judgements on this point. Only prosecution documents are to be looked at.
Raju: please have a look at the Sarla Gupta judgement. Trial starts after charges are framed. Before commencement of trial they have no right to inspect. Trial has not started now. Suppose she is discharged, where’s the question of inspection?
CJI: There is lack of uniformity in facilities for retired judges. Some states are giving all that is needed. But some states do nothing at all
Justice Bagchi: Security of one police officer for five years is reasonable for a high court judge..because they deal with sensitive issues also.
CJI: See the clause Rs 15,000 for secretarial services, security, travel etc
Adv: Yes the multiplier is low. But we are giving 50,000 also
CJI to SG Mehta: The govt should constitute a committee.. the issue is some basic amenities to be provided for HC judges. There is a need for uniformity. Centre can prescribe some norms as centre also releases some funds. If centre does not constitute then we have to
CJI: It appears that the Union of India is also a rightful stakeholder, especially when we expect that a part of the differential burden ought to be shared by the Union and the States in a defined manner.
There can indeed be no doubt that these facilities must be ensured on a uniform basis, as there is no reason whatsoever for such amenities to vary from State to State.
Keeping this perspective in mind, we have impressed upon the Union of India to constitute a committee to lay down uniform guidelines and also the manner and mechanism for financial assistance.
Such a committee shall be constituted within two weeks. Thereafter, the committee shall submit its recommendations to the Union of India and also place the same before this Court within three months from the date of its constitution.
List this matter after three months.
Sr Adv Amit Sharma: On the last occasion, Your Lordships had directed all the High Courts to file affidavits indicating whether they were facing any difficulty pursuant to the directions passed by this Hon'ble Court. All the High Courts have filed their compliance affidavits.
I would only request that the learned Amicus prepare a compilation of those affidavits and place it before this Hon'ble Court, so that if any further directions are required, the Court may consider passing them
Delhi High Court to hear at 2:30 pm the plea filed by Gitanjali Angmo, the wife of activist Sonam Wangchuk, seeking to declare his confinement at Safdarjung Hospital as unconstitutional and permit transfer to a hospital of his choice.
The urgent hearing will take place before Justice Mini Pushkarna.
The hearing will commence at 3pm. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma and Standing counsel Ashish Dixit are likely to appear.
Case of attack on a supreme court lawyer [Pankaj Sharma vs State of NCT]
AG R Venkataramani: I have said let him be taken to a government hospital. Let a medico legal report be taken so that his injuries can be ascertained. I acted in his best interest.
Sr Adv Vikas Singh: No as an attorney general you should have done more
CJI: There was a sharp object...
AG: That is what.. they say he brushed against a wall.. That is why I said medico legal report needed
Justice Bagchi: See intention is important in such cases and not the gravity of the injury. Injury is on a vital part of the body.
Sr Adv Singh: Status report is saying that a compromise is being forced.
Sr Adv Vikaas Pahwa: The accused RWA president is being protected by the local police
Singh: Crime branch should investigate...if section 109 is not attracted here then what else
Sr Adv Siddarth Dave: This lawyer regularly appears before this court.
Justice Bagchi: The investigating officer has to give the widest possible berth and then go for the medical opinion.
Adv: But arrest has to be there now
Justice Bagchi: Arrest? Why arrest ? Now next time you make an anticipatory bail plea..we will say arrest all accused
Adv laughs
Justice Bagchi; what are you all saying. You all are officers of this court