The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to cancel the bail of former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, and also refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court order, which had stayed his sentence in the Deoghar fodder scam case. He also requested the High Court to decide on his pending criminal appeal within 6 months.
The bench of Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice PB Varale was today hearing the special leave petition filed by the state of Jharkhand. This petition was filed to challenge the order of Jharkhand High Court dated July 12, 2019, in which Lalu’s sentence was stayed in the Deoghar fodder scam case.
HC will have to speed up the hearing: SC
The bench said, “After hearing the arguments of both the parties, we are not in favor of interfering with the order, especially since 7 years have passed since then. These appeals are of the year 2018, hence it would be appropriate to request the High Court to expedite the hearing.” The bench also said that it would be better to decide on these appeals within the next 6 months.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the state, argued during the hearing that the High Court had stayed the sentence on the wrong basis that Lalu Prasad had completed 50 percent of his sentence. He said that two earlier applications for stay on the sentence were rejected while the third application was approved on factually incorrect grounds.
HC miscalculated the period: ASG
Raju also argued that Section 427 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) would be applicable as Lalu Yadav has been convicted in multiple fodder scam cases related to different cases. He further said that unless the court gives any other direction, the subsequent sentences start only after the completion of the previous sentence. According to him, the High Court made a mistake by considering the sentences together while calculating the period spent in jail.
“The very yardstick adopted for this is wrong,” he said, adding that the punishment in the Deoghar fodder scam case will commence only after the completion of the previous sentence. Justice Sundaresh asked about the status of the appeal pending in the High Court. Raju replied that the appeal has not been heard yet and alleged that the accused is responsible for the delay.
However, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Lalu Prasad, opposed the state’s petition. He argued that by citing Section 427 at the stage of considering stay on punishment, the State is giving wrong argument of law. Sibal said that the question whether the punishment will be served simultaneously or one after the other will be raised at the last stage. He also said that the High Court adopted the same criteria for suspending the sentence, under which the sentence is suspended after the appellant has completed half of his sentence.
Lalu Prasad was convicted by the special court of CBI. The court had sentenced him to three and a half years under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. This was Lalu’s third application in the High Court for suspension of sentence. His two previous applications, on 23 February 2018 and 10 January 2019, were rejected on the grounds that he had not completed even half of his sentence. Now in the third and new application, it was said on behalf of Lalu that now he has completed more than half of his sentence.
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