As a result, the arrest of Faruqui and his associates itself appears to be prima facie illegal. If the Magistrate, before whom they had been produced on 2 January, had done his job properly, he would also have come to this conclusion and would have refused to authorise their detention.
While granting bail, the Magistrate could have easily imposed any conditions necessary to ensure the accused couldn’t abscond, whether by marking attendance at the police station, cooperating with the police, surrendering their passport, etc. Yet, the Magistrate failed to do so.
The Supreme Court has not recorded any findings on these points as yet, and the authorities will get a chance to argue that the police had, in fact, kept all these factors in mind, that the courts which authorised detention did so properly.
However, the judges have made this decision to grant ad interim bail after reviewing the material on record, including the high court’s order. This shows that they too believe that the…