Refraining a politician from taking part in political activities as a condition for granting bail would violate fundamental rights: SC

In a recent order, the Supreme Court (SC) bench constituting Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta ruled that refraining a politician from taking part in political activities as a condition for granting bail would violate fundamental rights. It said, “We find that the imposition of such condition would breach the fundamental rights of the appellant and no such conditions could have been imposed.” The bench, therefore, overturned the bail condition imposed by the Orissa High Court stating, “We, therefore, quash and set aside the condition imposed by the High Court, to the extent the same is extracted above.” In this case, the petitioner was the leader of the Odisha Bharatiya Janata Party and former Berhampur mayor, Siba Shankar Das. Multiple criminal cases were filed against him after switching parties from the Biju Janata Dal. The petitioner moved the Supreme Court after the Orissa HC imposed a condition while granting him bail, “The appellant shall not create any untoward situation in public and shall not be involved in any political activities, directly or indirectly.” During the proceedings, Advocate Som Raj Choudhury, Advocate Prashant Kumar, and Advocate Shrutee Aradhana represented the Odisha Government whereas Advocate Suresh Chandra Tripathy represented the accused (Siba Shankar Das). The SC bench via an order dated March 22, 2024, quashed and set aside the condition imposed by the HC.