The Supreme Court in the case Rajpal v. State of Rajasthan observed and has expressed concern at the High Court for not listing bail applications arising out of the same FIR before the same bench, despite repeated orders. The bench comprising of Justice CT Ravikumar and Justice Sanjay Kumar in the case observed and has stressed the need for listing bail applications which pertains to the same FIR before one single bench in order to avoid conflicting decisions, especially in cases where parity becomes the grounds for which bail is sought.
The court in the case observed that this court have to reiterate the concern of this Court on the lethargy in following the earlier orders in the matter of dealing with bail applications arising out of the same FIR in order to avoid conflicting decisions.
It ahs also been clarified by the said court that it is not to be construed that parity be given in all circumstances to all co-accused and that such entitlement is certainly dependent on various relevant facts and factors.
The court in the case noted that a similar situation was observed by a three-judge Bench of this Court on July 31, 2023 with regards to listing bail matters relating to the same FIR before different judges in the Allahabad High Court, wherein the bench considered it appropriate to ask the High Court to avoid anomaly in such listings. The court in its order dated July 31, 2023 stated that this court have come across various matters from the High Court of Allahabad, wherein matters arising out of the FIR are placed before different Judges. Thus, the same leads to anomalous situation and inasmuch as some of the learned Judges grant bail and some other Judges refuse to grant bail, even when the role attributed to the applicants is almost similar. The said court finds that it will be appropriate that all the matters pertaining to one FIR are listed before the same Judge so that there is consistency in the orders passed.
Further, the court while addressing the recurring pattern across other High Courts directed the Registrar (Judicial) of the Registry of the Supreme Court to communicate ‘this order along with a copy of the order dated 31.07.2023 in SLP (Crl.) No.7203 of 2023 to the Registrar, Judicial of all the High Courts and on their receipt, they shall place the orders before the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the respective High Courts’. The present matter pertains to the petitioner who had been arrayed in an FIR wherein the co-accused was granted bail by a Coordinate Bench of Rajasthan High Court, while the Bench at Jaipur had rejected his bail, even though the petitioner claimed grounds of parity.
The court while considering the facts and circumstances of the case permitted to withdraw SLP and has dismissed the same in terms of the signed order as mentioned above.
