High Courts to consider making it mandatory for accused to disclose past cases in bail pleas: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said, every High Court in the country should make it obligatory for an accused to disclose criminal antecedents in bail pleas, as it provided relief to a judicial officer who faced the ire of the High Court for granting bail to an accused in an attempt to murder case.

While allowing an appeal by Kaushal Singh, a judicial officer in District Judge cadre, against strictures passed by the Rajasthan High Court, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta said, "We would like to state that, accounting for the criminal antecedents of the accused while considering the bail applications has been the subject matter of concern for courts across the country".

Citing the rules and orders framed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the bench said, every High Court should incorporate similar provisions, making it mandatory for every bail applicant to mention all criminal cases registered against him or her.

Examining the appellant-judicial officer's plea, the court held the strictures passed by the High Court were uncalled for.

Expunging the High Court's observations, the bench said, law is well-settled that High Courts should ordinarily refrain from passing strictures against the judicial officers while deciding matters on the judicial side.

In Sonu Agnihotri Vs Chandra Shekhar & Ors (2024), this court implored that the courts higher in the judicial hierarchy should refrain from commenting on the conduct and calib of judicial officers, Justice Mehta wrote in the 16-page judgment on behalf of the bench.

The bench also pointed out in the present case, the strictures and scathing observations were made to the detriment of the appellant-judicial officer without providing him any opportunity of explanation or showing cause.

In addition, the court found that the entire foundation of the High Court’s order seemed to be based on the judgment in a case which stood reversed by this court in the case of Ayub Khan Vs State of Rajasthan in 2024.

On May 3, 2024, the High Court's single judge had observed that the appellant, being a judicial officer, had passed the order granting bail to Sethu alias Angrej on December 19, 2022 in an attempt to murder case, "in a grossly inappropriate and cavalier manner while ignoring the criminal record of the said accused".

The High Court held this act of the appellant-judicial officer tantamounted to indiscipline, negligence and so also, ignorance and disobedience.