The Supreme Court expressed its disapproval of the order given by the Rajasthan High Court which had restrained the police from arresting the respective accused persons in case they are accused only of certain offences with a maximum sentence of up to 3 years of imprisonment until 17th July 2021 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown situation.
The High Court had passed an order by a single bench which had also directed the Registry to not list applications seeking anticipatory bail in offences where the maximum sentence extends up to three years during the summer vacation of the Court.
The Supreme Court had given the verdict in the leave petition filed by the High Court of Rajasthan in order to challenge the said orders of the single bench. The Supreme Court had noted that the direction against the listing of those bail applications in the specified cases could potentially violate the constitutional rights of certain individuals.
Furthermore, the Court had observed that the direction with regards to the arrest had the potential of meddling with the investigation. However, since the orders had already worked out, the Supreme Court had to refrain from formally setting them aside. Justice Bose, the one who was responsible to read out the operative portion of the order in Court, said that the appeals had been filed by the High Court of Rajasthan and were allowed with the above observations.
