Supreme Court sets aside High Court bail orders for ignoring video evidence, orders fresh hearing

The Supreme Court has set aside three orders of the Patna High Court granting anticipatory bail or regular bail to accused in a murder case arising from poll-day violence during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, and sent the bail applications back for fresh consideration. The father of a man shot dead during the incident had challenged the High Court's orders. The Sessions Court had denied bail, relying on video footage that placed the accused at the scene and on witness statements recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, identifying them from that footage. The High Court's orders granting bail did not deal with this video evidence at all, and in one case recorded only the parties' submissions without any independent reasoning.

Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu held that a court cannot merely record submissions; it must show, however concisely, that it has applied its mind to the material on record, since reasons are what let a higher court test whether an order is correct. The Court relied on its earlier ruling in Assistant Commissioner, Commercial Tax Department v. Shukla and Brothers, which described giving reasons as furthering the cause of justice and avoiding uncertainty. The accused remain on interim bail on the terms the High Court had set, pending fresh orders; the Supreme Court made clear its observations are not findings on the merits of the bail applications.