Supreme Court grants bail after noting delay by Jammu & Kashmir High Court in deciding bail plea

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to a man accused of being involved in a dowry death after it was informed that his bail plea had been pending before the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh for months without a decision [Arjun Kattal vs. The State of Jammu and Kashmir]..Justices BR Gavai, Rajesh Bindal and Sandeep Mehta observed that the accused (bail applicant) had been incarcerated in jail for almost eight years.The Court also took into consideration the poor pace at which the criminal trial against him was proceeding. It proceeded to grant him bail despite the pendency of his bail plea before the High Court."The petitioner has been incarcerated in jail for a period of almost eight years. Taking into consideration this fact and the speed at which the trial is proceeding, we are inclined to grant bail in spite of the pendency of the matter before the High Court", the February 26 order stated. .The bail applicant had approached the Supreme Court with a grievance that his bail plea had been pending before the High Court for over six months without a decision. When the matter was first heard by the top court, it was informed that the bail plea had been pending before the High Court since May 2023..On January 30, 2024, the Supreme Court had directed the High Court to decide on the bail plea as soon as possible. "We fail to appreciate the speed at which the High Court is dealing in the matter pertaining to the personal liberty of a citizen. The bail matter ought to be decided as expeditiously as possible," the top court had said in its January 30 order. .However, the bail plea remained pending before the High Court. Whereas the matter was listed before the High Court on February 23, it could not be taken up due to paucity of time and was adjourned.In view of this, the Supreme Court proceeded to decide on the bail plea and allowed the accused man's release on bail. .Advocates Ranjeet Kumar, Simanta Kumar, Bipin Kumar Jha, Mithlesh Kumar, Jaya Kiran, Jyoti Singh and Pratab Singh Nerwal represented the bail applicant. Advocates Parth Awasthi, Pashupati Nath Razdan, Maitreye Jagat Joshi and Astik Gupta appeared for the Jammu and Kashmir government. .Note: In an earlier version of this article, the bail applicant was mentioned as having been accused of murder owing to a typographical error in a previous order in the case. The error has been rectified in the article and is regretted. .[Read Order]