Supreme Court denies bail to SFJ member

New Delhi, February 8

Holding that the oft-quoted phrase, “bail is the rule, jail is the exception” doesn’t apply to cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the Supreme Court has denied bail to a man accused of promoting Khalistani terror movement in India.

A Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Aravind Kumar – which denied bail to Gurwinder Singh, alias Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, allegedly associated with the banned terror outfit Sikhs for Justice — ruled that mere a delay in trial was no ground for granting bail in grave offences.

“We are of the considered view that the material on record prima facie indicates the complicity of the accused as a part of the conspiracy since he was knowingly facilitating the commission of a preparatory act towards the commission of a terrorist act under Section 18 of the UAPA,” the Bench said on Wednesday. “The investigation further revealed the hand of an ISI handler, Javed Khan, to be behind the operations of this module busted by the Punjab Police and NIA,” it noted.

Justice Kumar said, “The conventional idea in bail jurisprudence vis-à-vis ordinary penal offences that the discretion of courts must tilt in favour of the oft-quoted phrase — bail is the rule, jail is the exception – unless circumstances justify otherwise, doesn’t find any place while dealing with bail applications under UAPA.”