Supreme Court grants bail to BJP's Girraj Singh Malinga in assault case

The Supreme Court recently granted bail to former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Rajasthan and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Girraj Singh Malinga in a 2022 case involving allegations that he assaulted an assistant engineer of State's electricity department [Girraj Singh Malinga v. State of Rajasthan]..Malinga had approached the top court for relief after the Rajasthan High Court in July this year cancelled the bail granted to him earlier in 2022. On December 13, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar set aside the bail cancellation order and restored the grant of bail to Malinga. .Among other factors, the Bench noted that he has surrendered before the authorities following the top court's directive to do so. "Considering the above, we are inclined to set aside the impugned order, especially when the appellant has surrendered himself, pursuant to the observation made by us on the earlier occasion. Thus, taking into consideration the facts and circumstances of the case, we are inclined to set aside the impugned order," it said. Furthermore, the Court highlighted that the High Court had cancelled the bail granted to Malinga after two years. The top court proceeded to restore the grant of bail to Malinga. "The appellant shall be released forthwith on the very same terms and conditions based on which he was granted bail," the Court added. .The case stems from a first information report (FIR) lodged by a dalit engineer who alleged that in March 2022, Malinga (then a Congress MLA) entered his office with several individuals and assaulted him while hurling casteist abuses. The altercation is said to have been triggered by the disconnection of electricity in a village and the removal of electricity transformers from there. Malinga was booked for the offences under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, among other offences, read with Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s) and 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989..The incident led the Congress party to deny Malinga a ticket to contest the State Assembly elections in 2023, prompting the former MLA to switch to the BJP.Meanwhile, Malinga was arrested and subsequently granted bail by the Rajasthan High Court on May 17, 2022. However, the complainant-engineer later sought the cancellation of his bail, raising concerns about Malinga's influence, given his conduct after his release on bail. The complainant told the High Court that Malinga had conducted a roadshow and made intimidatory speeches after his release on bail. It was also argued that Malinga had a history of criminal cases against him and had concealed this information to secure bail.The High Court decided to cancel Malinga's bail on July 5 this year and ordered him to surrender before the authorities. The former MLA then moved the Supreme Court, which stayed the High Court's July order. However, on November 8, the top court said that it would not consider the matter further unless Malinga surrendered before the authorities. After Malinga surrendered, the top court proceeded to examine the matter further and granted him bail on December 13. .Senior Advocate Mukul Rohtagi, advocates Ajit Sharma, Aditya Vikram Singh, Sameer Rohtagi, Kanchan Kumar, Akshat Sharma, Amrit Pradhan, Yuvarajsing Solnki, Aditya Mishra, Ravi Pachori, Anshuman Singh, Mishra Aditya and Priyansh Jain, appeared for Malinga.Additional Advocate General Shiv Mangal Sharma, advocates Amogh Bansal and Nidhi Jaswal, appeared for State of Rajasthan. Advocates Mehmood Pracha, Jasdeep Singh Dhillon, Malti, Amanat Kaur Chahal, Anirudh Jamwal, Aditya Jain and Desam Sudhakara Reddy, appeared for complainant. .[Read Order]