Madras High Court: Bail Granted To Four Accused Of Obstructing Temple Demolition

The Madras High Court in the case Sankar v The State observed wherein the bail application was filed by two men including a lawyer who were alleged to have trespassed into a temple property and has prevented the revenue officials from removing the illegal encroachments, wherein the court also noticed that the court could not be a silent spectator to the act of bulldozing.
The bench headed by Justice G Jayachandran in the case observed and had made remarks on coming to know that the government officials had, in the guise of evicting the encroachers, thus, wherein demolishing the age-old structure.
In the present case, the bail application was moved by one Sankar, a practicing lawyer in Thiruvannamalai along with three others. Thus, they were being arrested based on a complaint given by the Assistant Commissioner (the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Trusts) of Arulmigu Arunachala.
The petitioner in the plea stated that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department had demolished a four hundred year old structure at a time when its ownership is still not decided yet.
Further, the court in the case appointed Adv Vrinda Ramesh as an Advocate Commissioner for ascertaining the fact of the case after the State submitted before the court that the building collapsed while trying to remove the encroachers.
After inspecting the place, it has been submitted by the Advocate Commissioner that the version of the State was not believable.
The bench of Justice AD Jagadish Chandra later heard the case, wherein the bench inclined to grant bail to the petitioners. Therefore, the bench also refrained from deciding the rival claims of the parties as the bench observed that the same was already pending before other forums.
Further, the court while considering the facts and circumstances of the case observed and has ordered the parties to be released on bail on their executing a separate bond for ana mount of Rs.15,000/- (Rupees Fifteen thousand only) with two sureties each. Moreover, the court also directed the parties to appear before the Esplanade Police Station every day.
Accordingly, the court disposed of the bail application.