The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal against the Karnataka High Court’s December 7, 2023 order granting bail to Mohan Nayak N, an accused in the 2017 murder case of journalist-turned-activist Gauri Lankesh.
Photo: Supreme Court of India (IANS)
The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal against the Karnataka High Court’s December 7, 2023 order granting bail to Mohan Nayak N, an accused in the 2017 murder case of journalist-turned-activist Gauri Lankesh.
Dismissing the plea by the Karnataka government and Gauri Lankesh’s sister Kavitha Lankesh seeking the cancellation of bail to Mohan Nayak, a bench of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma on Tuesday (August 20, 2024) noted that he has cooperated with the trial and has not sought any adjournment so far and was in custody since July 18, 2018.
Directing the trial court to conduct the trial expeditiously, the court ordered that all the parties shall cooperate with the trial court in concluding the trial.
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“Under the circumstances, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned orders passed by the High Court. However, it is directed that the trial court shall expeditiously conduct the trial and all the parties shall cooperate with the trial court in concluding the trial,” the court said in its order.
The court, in its order, said if the accused doesn’t cooperate or seeks unnecessary adjournments in the case, an application can be filed to cancel his bail.
“It goes without saying that if the respondent accused does not cooperate or asks for unnecessary adjournment(s) or commits breach of any condition, the State of Karnataka or the complainant shall be at liberty to apply for cancellation of bail, and if any such application is filed, the same shall be decided on its own merits and in accordance with law. The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed accordingly,” the order added.
The Karnataka government and Gauri Lankesh’s sister Kavitha Lankesh had approached the apex court challenging the Karnataka High Court order dated December 7, 2023, against the grant of bail to Nayak, one of the accused in the case.
Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017. The police had arrested 18 persons in the case.
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