Supreme Court grants anticipatory bail to man booked for selling adulterated Shawarma

The Supreme Court recently granted anticipatory bail to a restaurant owner in Kerala accused of having sold adulterated shawarma (meat-based wraps) and causing the death of a customer [Shihad MP v State of Kerala & Anr.]..The Court had already given him temporary relief from arrest in December 2023. In an order passed on May 8 this year, the Bench consisting of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan made the December 2023 order absolute after noting that the accused, Shihad MP (petitioner), had cooperated with the investigation."We have perused the post-mortem report and the final opinion on the cause of death. Pursuant to the interim order dated December 15, 2023, the appellant has cooperated for investigation. Accordingly, the interim order dated December 15, 2023 is made absolute on the same terms and conditions," the Court said in its order..The case arose following the death of customer three days after consuming the shawarma wrap which he had ordered through the food delivery app, Zomato. The police invoked Sections 284 (negligent conduct involving poisonous substances) and 308 (culpable homicide, indicating intent to cause serious harm without causing actual death) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the petitioner.According to the prosecution, the restaurant violated guidelines for shawarma preparation and caused widespread food poisoning. The police recorded statements from affected individuals including Swiggy customers. .The Kerala High Court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the accused - petitioner in November 2023 leading to the appeal before the apex court..On December 15, 2023, a Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Augustine George Masih passed an interim order granting temporary relief from arrest to the petitioner while asking him to cooperate with the probe. .On May 8, the Court made the December 2023 order absolute after examining the post-mortem report and the final opinion on the cause of death..Advocate Haris Beeran, Azhar Assees, Anand B Menon and Radha Shyam Jena represented the petitioners while advocates Harshad V Hameed, Dileep Poolakkot, Ashly Harshad and Shivam Sai represented the respondents..[Read Order]