Journalism of Courage
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday directed the District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) at Jhajjar to apply his mind and to refrain from nitpicking,while considering the bail application filed by a member of the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre in New Delhi,who was arrested by the Haryana Police for illegally confiscating 68 camels belonging to poor camel owners.
The directions were passed on an application moved by the Trust that runs the centre. In its application the trust,that has BJP MP Maneka Gandhi as a member,contended that the Jhajjar court,despite clear High Court directions,has refused to release Gaurav Gupta.
The High Court,last week,had directed the lower court to consider,on merits,the plea for Guptas release; he has been in custody for the past few weeks. Though the High Court had not passed any clear direction to release Gupta,it made it abundantly clear that keeping him behind bars will not serve any purpose. Despite this,the lower court refused to release Gupta on bail on the ground that the High Court had stated that the lower court may consider releasing him.
Taking stock,the High Court observed that though there were no clear directions but the observations of the Bench were quite obvious. As a result,the High Court has directed the Hisar Sessions Judge to consider Guptas bail application on Tuesday,apply his mind and pass the orders.
Last week,the trust had expressed deep regret and had tendered an unconditional and unqualified apology to the High Court for illegally keeping and not releasing 60 camels.
