Arnab Manoranjan Goswami v. State of Maharashtra, Criminal Appeal No. 742 of 2020.
Court: Supreme Court of India
Issue: Petition was filed against the order of the Hon’ble High Court denying the interim bail to Arnab Goswami.
Held: The High Court may consider granting bail to the Petitioner while exercising the jurisdiction under article 226 of the Constitution. Such powers can be exercised when the court is called upon to secure the liberty of the accused.
- While considering an application for the grant of bail under Article 226 in a suitable case, the High Court must consider the settled factors for granting bail such as the nature of the alleged offence, the nature of the accusation and the severity of the punishment in the case of a conviction; apprehension of the accused tampering with the witnesses, possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial or the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice, antecedents of and circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, whether prima facie the ingredients of the offence are made out, on the basis of the allegations as they stand, in the FIR and significant interests of the public or the State and other similar considerations.
- High Court has the power to protect the citizen by an interim order in a petition invoking Article 226.
- High Court should not foreclose itself from the exercise of the power when a citizen has been arbitrarily deprived of their personal liberty in an excess of state power.
- The Apex Court granted the Interim Bail to the Petitioner with the liberty to approach the Hon’ble Bombay High Court for deciding his pending petition on merits