Madras High Court denies bail to Office Assistant accused of stabbing Judicial Officer

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The Madras High Court on Thursday denied bail to an Office Assistant accused of stabbing a Judicial Officer.

A single-judge bench of Justice Anand Venkatesh stated his concern while dealing with the petition, and observed that the issue was to be dealt with utmost seriousness as it has an impact on the institution at large.

“Such an attack has an impact on the institution at large and hence it has to be dealt with utmost seriousness. If the petitioner is granted bail at this stage, it will have a serious impact on the mind of the Judicial Officers who may not feel very comfortable issuing transfer orders or initiating disciplinary proceedings against their staff,” observed Justice Venkatesh.

It is alleged that the Office Assistant got enraged due to a transfer order issued to him by the judicial officer. As a result, he is said to have carried a knife with him and attempted to stab the Judicial Officer who, according to him, was responsible for the issuance of the transfer order. He was accused of offenses under Sections 332, 324, and 307 of IPC.

The learned counsel of the petitioner submitted that the investigation was complete and that the police had already filed the final report. It was further submitted that the petitioner was already suffering incarceration for 75 days. So, to effectively defend himself it was necessary to grant him bail. It was added that the petitioner was willing to abide by the conditions imposed by the court.

On the contrary, the advocate for the government submitted that the issue involved was of a serious nature. He added that the matter is at the stage of committal and that the court may fix a time. It was further submitted that if the petitioner was granted bail, it would seriously impact the institution at large, and acts like these should be taken seriously.

Justice Venkatesh while agreeing to the contentions made by the counsel of the government stated that seeing the seriousness of the allegations, the accused was denied bail.

Accordingly, the court directed the Committal Court to commit the case to the concerned Sessions Court. And the Sessions Court was further directed to conduct the proceedings on a day-to-day basis and complete the case within six weeks. It was also directed to the Sessions Court to decide the case purely on merit and in accordance with the law.

Case Title: Prakash A. v. The State represented by Inspector of Police

 

Edits by Sanya Talwar