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The Supreme Court said that the Bombay High Court had abdicated its ‘constitutional duty’ by denying to grant interim relief to Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami.
The top court said that there was no prima facie case established against Goswami in abetment to suicide.
The Supreme Court, in its, judgement said:
“The striking aspect of the impugned judgment of the High Court spanning over fifty-six pages is the absence of any evaluation even prima facie of the most basic issue.
The High Court, in other words, failed to apply its mind to a fundamental issue which needed to be considered while dealing with a petition for quashing under Article 226 of the Constitution or Section 482 of the CrPC.”
A bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Indira Banerjee also stressed the “Bail is Rule and Jail is the exception” maintained by Justice Krishna Iyer.
The Apex Court also stated that the lower courts must “ensure that the criminal law does not become a weapon for the selective harassment of citizens.”