HC dismisses bail plea of habitual offender

The Madras High Court today dismissed a petition of a habitual offender involved in several criminal cases claiming that cancellation of his earlier bail was wrong and seeking a direction to enlarge him on bail.
The petitioner, Sukash Chandrasekar, facing 21 criminal cases in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi, had filed a criminal orginal petition stating that cancellation of bail was wrong and he should be released on bail.
He was arrested on January 4, 2014 and was remanded in judicial custody by Alandur Judicial Magistrate.
He was granted bail with stringent conditions but later went absconding. He was then arrested in Maharashtra for an offence committed there following which the Tamil Nadu government moved the high court seeking a direction to cancel the bail which was acceded to.

Dismissing his plea, Justice S Vaidyanathan said, "Allegations against the petitioner are serious and a glance at the list of cases filed against him clearly shows that he is a habitual offender..."
"A person who has abused the freedom granted to him and is re-arrested certainly has to continue in custody," he said.
"No right can be absolute and reasonable restrictions can be placed on them. The petitioner having flouted the orders of the court, cannot invoke Article 21 (of the Constitution) again.
"A person who has scant regard to the order of the court cannot say that he is entitled to bail under Section 167(2) automatically. That apart, this will apply to a person when the investigation is not completed at the first stage within time, say within 60 days or 90 days depending upon the nature of offence," the judge said.