Shillong, Jul 9: The Supreme Court on Thursday indicated that it may refer to a larger bench an important legal question arising from the bail granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi in the alleged murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi.
The issue is whether a typographical error in an arrest memo is enough to render an arrest invalid and justify granting bail.
A bench comprising Justices Manoj Misra and Shree Chandrashekhar also said it would closely examine whether the Meghalaya High Court was right in upholding Raghuvanshi’s bail on the basis of the error found in the arrest documents.
Appearing for the Meghalaya government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the High Court had attached undue significance to what he described as a clerical mistake in the arrest memo. He submitted that the case involved a serious offence and that a minor drafting error should not become the basis for bail.
“This is a very serious case where bail has been granted on the ground that the written grounds of arrest were not supplied, despite records showing that they were furnished at the time of arrest,” Mehta told the court.
The controversy stems from the arrest memo, which referred to Section 403 instead of Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the provision dealing with punishment for murder. The Meghalaya High Court had observed that the incorrect section reflected a “total non-application of judicious mind” and concluded that the accused had not been properly informed of the grounds of arrest, leading it to uphold the bail granted by the trial court.
During Thursday’s hearing, the Supreme Court noted that there are differing judicial views on the requirement of supplying written grounds of arrest and said the legal position may need to be settled by a larger bench.
“We will consider this matter in detail. We will decide whether it requires to be referred to a larger bench,” Justice Manoj Misra observed.
Emphasising the seriousness of the allegations, Mehta told the court that the prosecution case involves a pre-planned murder during the couple’s honeymoon in Meghalaya. He argued that the gravity of the offence should not be overshadowed by what he described as a technical typographical error.
The bench directed the Meghalaya Police to place on record clear and legible copies of the original documents supplied to the accused at the time of arrest so that the court could verify the information that was actually communicated.
Justice Misra also remarked that if the legal ground relied upon by the High Court is ultimately found to be unsustainable, the basis for the bail order would also fall.
The matter comes after another Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu, on July 3 declined to stay the Meghalaya High Court’s order granting bail to Raghuvanshi while agreeing to examine the state’s challenge.
On June 29 the Meghalaya High Court had dismissed the state government’s plea seeking cancellation of the bail granted by the trial court on April 27.
