Kannada actor Darshan has been arrested in a murder case
The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail of Kannada actor Darshan Thogudeepa in the Renukaswamy murder case. He was arrested soon after the order came. The state had objected to the interim bail granted to the actor accused of murder.
Here are the top quotes of the Supreme Court
- Popularity cannot be a shield for impunity. As this court held, influence, resources and social status cannot form a basis for granting bail where there is a genuine risk of prejudice to the investigation or trial.
- In the present case, by treating Darshan's stature as a mitigating factor, the high court committed a manifest perversity in the exercise of its discretion, thereby warranting cancellation of bail.
- As demonstrated earlier, Darshan is not a common undertrial. He enjoys celebrity status, mass following, political clout, and financial muscle. His conduct inside the jail including recorded instances of VIP treatment, violations of jail rules, and registered FIRs [first information reports] for misuse of facilities reflect his capacity to defy the system even while in custody.
- If a person can subvert the prison system, the risk of interference with evidence, threatening influencing witnesses, and tampering with the course of justice is both real and imminent.
- Moreover, Darshan's immediate return to social events, sharing a stage with prosecution witnesses, and continued influence over police witnesses, despite being on bail, establish that his liberty is a threat to the integrity of the proceedings.
- Notably, celebrities serve as social role models, so accountability is greater, not lesser. They, by virtue of their fame and public presence, wield substantial influence on public behaviour and social values.
- Granting leniency to such persons despite grave charges of conspiracy and murder sends a wrong message to society and undermines public confidence in the justice system.
- Accordingly, Darshan's antecedents, influence, jail misconduct, and the seriousness of the charges against him make him unfit for bail, and the granting bail to him is based on non-application of mind, perverse, and legally unsustainable.
- In a democracy governed by the rule of law, no individual is exempt from legal accountability by virtue of status or social capital.
- Article 14 [of the Constitution] guarantees equality before the law... All persons, regardless of popularity, power, or privilege, are equally subject to the law.
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