Supreme Court cancels bail to actors Darshan, Pavithra Gowda in Renukaswamy murder

The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted to Kannada actors Darshan Thoogudeepa and Pavithra Gowda and five others by the Karnataka High Court in the Renukaswamy murder case.

A Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan pronounced the order on an appeal filed by the Karnataka government against the High Court order.

"The order is set aside, and the bail granted to the accused is set aside," the Court ordered.

The Bench held that the High Court order suffers from perversity and it went into witness statement which is the prerogative of the trial court.

"The High Court order reflects mechanical exercise of power... The grant of bail will impact the trial, and the witnesses can be influenced," the apex court ruled.

"Justice Mahadevan has pronounced a very erudite judgment. It is ineffable. It conveys a message that however big the accused may be, he or she is not above the law. It contains a strong message that the justice delivery system at any level should ensure at any cost that rule of law is maintained. No man is above law or below it. Nor do we ask anyone's permission when we obey it. the need of the hour is to maintain rule of law at all times," Justice Pardiwala added.

The Court also warned against providing special treatment to the accused in jail.

"The day we come to know that the accused persons are being provided 5-star treatment, the first step would be to place the superintendent into suspension along with all other officials," the Bench cautioned.

The dead body of 33-year-old auto-driver Renukaswamy was found on June 9. It is alleged that he died owing to injuries sustained in an attack carried out on Darshan's instructions.

The actor allegedly called upon his fans to accost and kidnap Renukaswamy for making derogatory comments against Pavithra Gowda on social media.

Darshan was arrested on June 11 last year.

On October 30 last year, the High Court had granted him interim bail for six weeks on medical grounds.

Subsequently, it granted regular bail to Darshan, Pavithra and five other accused on December 13, 2024.

Single-judge Justice S Vishwajith Shetty said that the prosecution had failed to provide grounds of arrest to the accused.

The judge cited the Supreme Court’s judgement in the case of journalist and editor Prabir Purkayastha, wherein the apex court had clarified that grounds of arrest were different from the reasons of arrest and that it was necessary for the police to provide all arrested persons with grounds of arrest specific to their respective cases to give them a fair chance to defend themselves and seek bail.

In the present case, the High Court noted that the prosecution had belatedly served grounds of arrest to the accused. Besides, it said that the grounds of arrest instead of containing details specific to each accused, were all identical.

The State then moved the Supreme Court challenging the bail order.

The plea was filed before the top court on January 6 through Krishna & Nishani Law Chambers.