No immediate decision on bail petitions: HC

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday stated that it could not take an immediate decision on bail applications of the accused allegedly involved in the HCS (judiciary) paper leak case as it had to ensure that no more fingers were pointed at the institution in future.

“Entire sanctity of the examination was breached and it became more serious when a high ranking official of this court was involved in the case. We are postponing the hearing of the bail plea to ensure that no more fingers are pointed at this institution,” observed a full bench of the court.

Referring to the request of suspended high court registrar (recruitment) Balwinder Sharma to decide on his bail expeditiously, the court orally observed that prima facie his involvement could not be ruled out.

The matter was heard by a full bench comprising Chief Justice Krishna Murari, Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justice Rajan Gupta, Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Arun Palli.

When the matter came up for hearing, counsel for Balwinder Sharma and other accused argued that they were in illegal detention as challan against them had already been filed and they deserved to be released on bail.

Counsel for one of the accused said as no question paper had been recovered from his client’s possession, thus, there was no point of keeping him in jail. On this, the Chief Justice observed, “If recovery is not made out, that does not mean that he was not involved.”

Also, counsel for one of the woman accused argued that she is in jail without trial for a long time. “She has been convicted without trial. This is illegal custody,” argued the counsel seeking immediate bail. On this, the bench asked the counsels for accused that court was alive of all these issues raised by them and they should strike a balance in their duty towards their clients as well as the court.

“This is a hypersensitive issue and investigation agency is still probing the case. We cannot force the agency to close the investigation at this stage. We will hear all bail applications on merits on the next date of hearing,” observed the Chief Justice while adjourning the matter for September 19.

An internal probe conducted by the HC had found Sharma responsible for leakage of paper to one of the candidates, Sunita. Later the case was registered and a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted to probe the matter. As of now, the SIT has arrested several persons, including Sharma, in relation to the case. The trial is pending before the Chandigarh district court.