The Supreme Court on Thursday took exception to the Bihar Police demanding that an accused in a criminal case prove his innocence during interrogation [Md Tauhid vs State of Bihar].A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that such an approach cannot be countenanced."It is obvious that the Police need the custody of the appellant-Md. Tauhid @ Kallu (accused), not for interrogation but for some other reason ... the approach of the Police reflected from paragraph 9 of the counter affidavit, to say the least, is shocking. The Police Officer seems to be under an impression that the accused has to appear before him and prove his innocence", the bench observed.The Court proceeded to make absolute its earlier order granting anticipatory bail to the man accused of an attempt to murder.The bench was hearing an appeal challenging a Patna High Court order from October 2023 that refused to grant the accused anticipatory bail.On December 6, the Court issued notice on the appeal and granted the appellant interim protection from arrest.The Bihar Police later submitted a counter-affidavit to argue that the accused should remain in custody. This counter-affidavit stated that the accused "on interrogation pleaded himself innocent but did not produce and material in support of his claim.”Not satisfied with the Bihar Police's counter-affidavit, the bench proceeded to allow the anticipatory bail plea by the accused.Senior Advocate Syed Jafar Hussain with advocates Praveen Swarup, Ameet Singh, KP Singh, Archana Sharma, Ravi Kumar, and Devesh Maurya appeared for the accused.Advocates Manish Kumar and Ravi Shanker Jha represented the Bihar Police.
TAGS: Anticipatory bail Appeal Patna High Court Interim protection
