The Supreme Court has issued a notice on the Meghalaya government’s petition challenging the High Court’s order that upheld the grant of bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the Raja Raghuvanshi honeymoon murder case.
However, the apex court did not stay the operation of the impugned order since the accused has already been released, IANS reported.
While hearing the matter, the Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu asked Sonam Raghuvanshi to file a counter-affidavit. It added that the matter will next be heard next week.
“We have a reservation, prima facie, about the High Court order. We will see how the trial proceeds. The fact remains that she was informed about the grounds. In the earlier bail pleas, she did not raise this issue,” the Justice Sundresh-led Bench observed.
Representing the Meghalaya government, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta stated taht the courts earlier failed to consider relevant material, adding that this was not a case where the grounds of arrest had not been communicated to the accused.
SG Mehta submitted that the trial had commenced and over 90 prosecution witnesses were yet to be examined, adding that the impugned judgment set a “wrong precedent”.
The top court then asked that counsel appearing for Sonam Raghuvanshi file a counter-affidavit.
“Considering the submission that the order of bail has been given effect to, we are inclined to list the matter for further hearing on next Thursday,” the Justice Sundresh-led Bench said in its order.
Notably, the state government earlier challenged the High Court’s order upholding the grant of bail to Sonam Raghuvanshi in the murder case.
On June 29, the Meghalaya High Court had upheld a local court’s order that granted bail to Sonam, dismissing the state government’s appeal against the lower court’s decision.