SC seeks explanation from J'khand ex-minister, MLA wife over alleged violation of bail conditions

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked former Jharkhand Minister Yogendra Sao and his MLA wife Nirmala Devi, accused in a rioting case, to explain on how many occasions they did not attend trial court proceedings despite being in the state.

The top court also asked the two about the circumstances in which they were out of Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal and his wife attended the Jharkhand assembly despite the court barring them from doing so, after the Jharkhand state counsel sought cancellation of their bail for alleged violation of conditions..

A bench of justices S A Bobde and Deepak Gupta said, "If you were in Jharkhand and did not attend the trial court proceedings, then you have violated the bail condition".

It said that only exception granted to Sao and Devi while granting bail was that they would enter Jharkhand to attend the trial court proceedings against them.

The bench asked them to file an affidavit within a week giving every detail of the occasions they were out of Bhopal.

Both Sao and Devi were granted bail on December 15, 2017 by the top court in the case and they were directed to stay in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh as a bail condition.

They were allowed to visit Jharkhand only for court hearings under police protection after intimating Bhopal superintendent of police.

At the outset, advocate Tapesh Kumar Singh, appearing for Jharkhand state, said that they want their bail to be cancelled as they have violated the conditions imposed by the court.

He said that out of 260 days, Sao had been in Jharkhand for more than 150 days and hardly spent 25 days in Bhopal.

Singh claimed that Sao travelled out of Bhopal on 24 occasions out of which he had travelled to Delhi a dozen times.

"While being in Jharkhand, Sao had not appeared before the trial court. The cases against them are pending at the same stage as was on the day they were granted bail," he said.

The bench then asked the counsel for Sao and his wife to furnish the details of the occasions they were out of Bhopal within a week.

On November 22, last year, the apex court had said that it may cancel the bail granted to Sao and his MLA wife for violating conditions imposed by it.

Jharkhand government had earlier said that in 11 cases registered against Sao, charges were not framed by the trial judge as he did not appear before the court despite directions from the top court.

Singh claimed that Devi also did not appear before the trial judge in four cases where charges were to be framed against her.

On October 29 last year, the apex court had sought response from Sao and Devi after the state government sought cancellation of their bail on the grounds that they had violated bail conditions.

The Jharkhand government had said several criminal cases were pending against the couple. The cases are at various stages, including of framing of charges, where their presence is needed, it had said.

The government has annexed their call details records to show that the Sao and Devi had violated the bail conditions.

The apex court had earlier taken exception to the charge framing order passed by a court in Jharkhand through instant messaging application WhatsApp. It had wondered how this kind of a "joke" was allowed to happen in a court of law in India.

A lower judge in Hazaribagh district had put Sao on trial by pronouncing the order framing charges against them through a 'WhatsApp' call.

Both the Sao and Devi had challenged the order in apex court saying that the trial judge had on April 19 this year framed charges against them through a 'WhatsApp' call despite they raising objections to it.

The apex court took serious note of it and observed that this process cannot be allowed, and administration of justice cannot be allowed to be brought into disrepute.

The couple had sought transfer of their cases from Hazaribagh to New Delhi.

Both Devi and Sao were accused in the case relating to violent clashes between villagers and police in 2016 in which four persons were killed.

Sao was a minister in the Hemant Soren government in August 2013.

Devi, a Congress MLA, had led an agitation against NTPC authorities for their alleged attempt to forcibly evacuate villagers from Barkagaon without giving them due compensation or rehabilitation, according to police.