JAMMU: A Bench of Supreme Court of India comprising Justice Pinaki Chandra Gosh and Justice R. Nariman on Thursday issued notice to former National Conference Minister’s son Hilal Rather of Simula Ltd, in a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by an RTI activist, Dr Rehmatullah Khora.
Apart from Hilal Rather, son of former Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, the other accused in the case include Dr Rizwan Rahim Bhat and Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, sons of Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Bhat, residents of 179, Rawalpora Housing Colony, Sanat Nagar Srinagar at present Tawi Vihar Sidhra, Jammu; Daljit Wadhera, son of Late Sohan Lal, resident of Raj Bagh Ujh at present Old Janipur, Jammu; Tarsem Singh Jamwal, son of Waryam Singh Jamwal, resident of Sainik Colony, Jammu; Mudassir Ahmed Raina, son of Ghulam Mohammad Raina, resident of Hussainpora, Tehsil Chadoora Budgam, Srinagar and Manzoor Ahmed Wani, son of Haji Ghulam Nabi Wani.
The Apex Court was hearing a SLP filed by aforementioned RTI activist through Advocate Aseem Kumar Sawhney and Advocate on Record (AoR) Dharmendra Kumar Sinha.
During the course of hearing, Advocate Aseem Kumar Sawhney submitted before the Supreme Court that the J&K High Court had passed a final order dated 11th January, 2017, in a petition under Section 561 A of the J&K Code of Criminal Procedure (akin to Section 482 of the CrPC), petition under Section 561 A No. 20/2017.
“On the first hearing of the case, the High Court disposed off the petition and instead of quashing the FIR, which was the only prayer of the accused persons, granted Anticipatory Bail to all the accused including the son of former Finance Minister of the State,” Advocate Aseem Kumar Sawhney effectively argued, submitting that the High Court had committed manifest and grave error by granting of relief of stay of arrest or grant of anticipatory bail, in a petition where such relief was never sought and only relief sought was quashing of the FIR.
While granting stay of arrest and anticipatory bail to the accused persons, the High Court completely failed to consider the fact that the accused were highly influential persons which included the son of former Finance Minister and several other National Conference leaders, who were involved in serious and heinous offences under Sections 341, 342, 323, 363 and 34 RPC, Advocate Aseem stressed.
On hearing and going through the submissions made in the petition, the Supreme Court issued notice to the accused – Hilal Rather, State of J&K and others.
On Nov 22 2016, in a complaint filed by RTI activist, Dr Rehmatullah Khora, the Court of Sub Judge Jammu had directed SHO Trikuta Nagar Police Station to investigate the matter against ex-minister’s son and others.
The complainant Dr Rehmatullah Khora alleged that Hilal Rather and other accused Ghulam Mohd Bhat, Dr Rizwan Rahim Dar, Dajeet Wadhera, Tarsem Singh Jamwal and Mudassir Ahmed are all well connected people. He also submitted that Manzoor Ahmed Wani is Vice President of National Conference Kashmir and all these accused with common intention had kidnapped, abducted and beaten him up.
He further alleged that he was wrongfully confined by the accused for eight hours at the Paradise Avenue office and beaten up because he had obtained certain vital and incriminating evidences against their company and was making investigations into the scam of the said accused and their company.
On January 13, 2017, the Vacation Judge of J&K High Court Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey had granted pre-arrest bail to Hilal Rather, son of senior National Conference (NC) leader Abdul Rahim Rather.
The Court was hearing a petition filed by Hilal Rather seeking quashment of FIR No. 244/2016 registered under Sections 341, 323, 343, 363 and 34 RPC, which is pending for investigation in Police Station, Bahu Fort.
The Court had directed the Investigating Officer to conduct fair investigation in the case and also asked the petitioner to cooperate with police during the course of investigation. The Court further observed that petitioner should remain present before the police during the day hours but the Investigating Officer shall not arrest the petitioner. In the event of his arrest, he shall be released on furnishing bail bond and surety bond amounting to Rs.50,000, the court had ordered.