JOIN USCan't remain bystander to violation of law: Supreme Court on Mukhtar Ansari case
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered shifting of mafia don-turned-BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari from Roopnagar jail in Punjab to a prison in Banda district in Uttar Pradesh within two weeks, saying the top court cannot remain as a bystander if a convict or undertrial opposed his transfer.
A bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R Subhash Reddy also rejected the Punjab government's opposition to the transfer plea by the Uttar Pradesh government.
"We are of the considered view that it is evidently a fit case to invoke our power under Article 142 (order to do complete justice) of the Constitution to order transfer the custody of the Ansari," the bench said.
The court noted that the Uttar Pradesh Police were denied custody of Ansari 26 times between February 14, 2019, and February 14, 2020, on "trivial grounds under the guise of medical conditions by mentioning ordinary diseases like diabetes mellitus, skin allergy, hypertension, backache, throat infection, etc".
Ansari, BSP MLA from Mau has been lodged in district jail Roopnagar since January 2019, in connection with an extortion case.
The court noted the Punjab Police did not file a charge sheet in the matter and Ansari preferred not to seek default bail.
It rejected a plea of Ansari seeking transfer of cases pending against him in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi. "In our opinion, a convict or an undertrial prisoner, who disobeys the law of the land, cannot oppose his transfer from one prison to another. Courts are not to be a helpless bystander when the rule of law is being challenged with impunity," the bench said.
The bench said Ansari shall be lodged in Banda jail and the jail Superintendent will extend necessary medical facilities. "The arms of law are long enough to remedy the situation. If there are any medical ailments to the petitioner, every care shall be taken by the Jail Authorities but at the same time, the spacious plea of ill health by referring to minor ailments, cannot be taken to oppose transfer," the bench said.
The Uttar Pradesh government filed a writ petition in the court seeking transfer of custody of Mukhtar Ansari from Punjab to face trial in as many as 14 cases pending over there. It claimed more than 30 FIRs, including those related to heinous crimes of murder and the Gangster Act, have been filed against Ansari.
Ansari, for his part, alleged there is a threat to his life in Uttar Pradesh as one of the co-accused was "eliminated in the encounter" by the Uttar Pradesh Police.
The Punjab government said Ansari could be tried through video conferencing.