Recently, the Supreme Court set aside a decision made by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, wherein the bail of two murder suspects had been revoked because their lawyer was unable to present their case due to a lawyers' strike.

A division bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol  allowed a plea by Ram Swaroop Patel to challenge the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court dated March 28, 2023.

The Court offered relief to the petitioners by confirming that the interim orders issued by the Supreme Court in favor of Ram Swaroop Patel on May 23, 2023, and for Ram Het Patel on June 02, 2023, are binding.

Both the accused were named in an FIR related to murder and other offences. They were arrested on March 31, 2022. Thereafter, bail was granted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court to Ram Swaroop Patel on September 12, 2022 and to Ram Het Patel on September 27, 2022.

The High Court revoked the granted bail based on a request from the complainant at a later date.

During the Court proceedings, the Counsel argued that on the scheduled date, the lawyers had refrained from participating in court proceedings due to the strike called by the State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh. This is why the accused petitioners were not adequately represented in court.

On the contrary, the Counsel for the state opposed the plea, contending that there were allegations of a threat made by the petitioners to the family members of the informant.

"The High Court cancelled the bail and one of the ground for cancellation is that when the complainant filed the application for cancellation of bail, the counsel for the accused was not present in court," the bench said.

After hearing an arguement from both the parties, the Court said -

"It is however made clear that the petitioners must maintain distance from the informant and their family members and if there is any complaint of intimidation by the petitioners, the trial court will be at liberty to take appropriate action against them".

Case Title: RAM SWAROOP PATEL VERSUS THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ANR