Supreme Court dismisses State government challenge to Chhattisgarh IPS officer Gurjinder Pal Singh bail

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal by the Chhattisgarh government against the High Court order granting bail to suspended IPS officer Gurjinder Pal Singh in a case filed against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. (State of Chhattisgarh v. Gurjinder Pal Singh).While upholding the grant of bail to Singh, the vacation bench of Justices BR Gavai and Hima Kohli observed that the status or position of a person has no bearing on the decision of the court."While considering bail, High Court does not have business to deal with status of applicant and it is about the individual right. Plea is totally without merit and is this dismissed," the order stated..The Bench also observed that the appeal was a "totally unwarranted exercise" by the State government. It went on to highlight that in disproportionate assets cases, most of the evidence was documentary evidence, "where there is no chance of tampering"..The State government, in its plea filed through Advocate Sumeer Sodhi, apprehended that if Singh was released on bail, he might influence witnesses. "...in fact the present case is such where the respondent has, in the past, intimidated witnesses because of which the state had to provide police protection to such witnesses," the petition stated.It was also argued that the High Court did not consider the fact that the necessary sanction from the Centre as mandated under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, has already been sought by the Chhattisgarh Home Department on March 14 this year..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the State of Chhattisgarh..Singh, who is facing charges in three criminal cases, was arrested in January this year, on allegations that he owned assets disproportionate to his sources of income.He was also booked for Sedition after a diary containing comments on senior government functionaries was seized from his house..[Read a live account of today's hearing]