A bench comprising of Chief Justice N.V Ramana, AS Bopanna, and Hima Kohli while hearing an urgent mentioning of anticipatory bail plea by Gotya Sawant, co-accused with BJP leader Nitesh Rane, in an attempt to murder case, expressed their concern at the exorbitant number of anticipatory bail petitions being filed before the Supreme Court.
The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India remarked that the “supreme court has turned into a court to hear anticipatory bail cases only”
On December 18, 2020, Rane was accused of being the main conspirator behind the attempt to murder a Shiv Sena member, in the Kankavli region of Maharashtra. The Sindhudurg Sessions Court rejected his anticipatory bail. Subsequently, the High Court entertained the plea and recorded the submissions of the petitioner stating that the FIR against him was registered because he made some mockery of Shiv Sena leader and State Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray. Also, the singular aim of the FIR is to prevent the petitioner from contesting the Sindudurg Co-operative Bank elections scheduled to be held on December 30th, 2021.
The High Court rejected his plea on January 17 stating that the state government that no coercive action would be taken against Rane, till January 27, 2022. Aggrieved by this order the petitioner approached the Supreme Court.
