Sessions Court rejects bail plea by petitioner who was unaware that Magistrate granted bail: Punjab and Haryana High Court seeks explanation

In a peculiar turn of events, the Punjab & Haryana High Court on Monday had occasion to hear a case where a Sessions Court had rejected the bail plea moved by a man (petitioner) who was unaware that he had already been granted bail by a Magistrate (Nishant @ Nishu vs. State of Haryana)..The issue came to light after the petitioner sought liberty to furnish bail bonds before the trial court and withdraw a bail application filed before the High Court stating that he had been unaware of already having been granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Panchkula. .Terming the situation unusual, Justice HS Madan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court went on to express surprise that the Sessions Judge had declined to grant the petitioner bail without perusing the order of the Magistrate.."It is very strange that neither petitioner/accused nor his counsel would come to know about the order granting regular bail to the petitioner/accused and rather learned Sessions Judge, Panchkula was approached by way of filing application for regular bail. It is very surprising that without verifying and going through the order passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Panchkula, learned Sessions Judge, Panchkula proceeded to dispose of the application for regular bail when it should not have been done as bail had already been granted to the petitioner by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Panchkula", the order stated..The High Court noted that the situation has arisen because neither the petitioner's counsel, nor the Public Prosecutor brought the grant of bail to the notice of the Sessions Court. .The Court added that the police authorities also had a duty to assist the Court properly, particularly since the prosecution had filed a reply to the bail application before the Sessions Court..The High Court, therefore, called for an explanation from the Sessions Judge. Further, the Director, Prosecution and the DGP, Haryana have been directed to find the persons responsible for this situation and take necessary action against them..Justice Madaan further pointed out that owing to the odd turn of events, the precious time of the Court as well as of the petitioner has been wasted.."In the process, precious time of learned Sessions Judge, Panchkula and this Court has been wasted and on his part the petitioner himself has remained behind bars for a period of more than 1 year and 4 months on account of non functioning of Courts etc", the High Court observed..When the matter was taken up last, the High Court was informed that the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Panchkula had extended bail to the petitioner on February 13, 2021. However, the petitioner and his lawyer were unaware of this fact..Therefore, the petitioner sought regular bail before the Sessions Judge, Panchkula. After the Sessions Court declined to grant bail, the High Court was approached. .The High Court proceeded to allow the petitioner to withdraw his bail plea. The explanations sought by the Court are to be furnished by August 12, the Court added. .[Read Order]