Can't enlarge murder case accused on bail without considering charge sheet: Supreme Court

The top court asked the Rajasthan HC to decide and dispose of the bail application, afresh in accordance with law and on its own merits

The Supreme Court has held that the High Courts cannot allow bail to a murder case accused without looking at the material collected during the investigation.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and Ahsanuddin Amanullah cancelled the bail granted to accused persons and directed them to surrender before the court concerned within 10 days.

Acting on a plea by Rahul Gupta, the complainant in the murder case, the court set aside the Rajasthan High Court's order of July 18, 2022 enlarging the accused on bail by a non-speaking order in an FIR lodged in 2021 with police station Kotwali of Dholpur district.

"When the accused are charge sheeted after the investigation, the High Court ought to have taken note of and/or considered the material collected during the investigation even to find out whether there is any material collected during the investigation involving the accused for the serious offence under Section 302 of IPC and therefore, whether it is a fit case to enlarge the accused on bail or not," the bench said.

The top court asked the High Court to decide and dispose of the bail application, afresh in accordance with law and on its own merits after taking into consideration the material or evidence collected during the investigation which are now a part charge sheet.