Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday dismissed a bail plea of some persons accused of murder, observing that spread of COVID19 cannot be deemed to be a “substantial change in the fact situation.”
A bench of Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey dismissed the application of the accused after hearing their counsel and the government through its senior Additional Advocate General, BA Dar.
“In the present case, the accused are facing trial in connection with heinous offences, as such, in my opinion, they, at this stage, do not deserve any concession of bail,” the Court said.
The Court held that the earlier application filed by the accused was rejected on merits by the Court of competent jurisdiction and there was no substantial change of circumstance or event.
The Court observed that there was nothing on record by the accused to show that there was any substantial change of circumstances after rejection of the earlier bail application except for the one fact relating to the spread of COVID19 pandemic.
“This spread of COVID19 cannot be deemed to be a substantial change in the fact situation, moreso, when the authorities have already taken considerable measures for protection of health and welfare of prisoners in order to restrict transmission of COVID19 in different jails including Central Jail, Srinagar,” the Court said
The accused are facing trial in a case –1 FIR (No 135/2012) registered against them in police station, Saddar, in connection with murder of one person, Ghulam Muhammad Shah of Budshah Nagar.