New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) Congress MP Shashi Tharoor told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that a plea for cancelling his anticipatory bail is not maintainable as the petitioner has no locus standi.
Tharoor's counsel and senior advocate Vikas Pahwa told Justice R.K. Gauba that the plea challenging the bail is not maintainable because law has granted right to the accused to move anticipatory bail apprehending arrest and that the sessions court has power to deal with it.
Pahwa said the apprehension of arrest "proved" right when the police opposed the anticipatory bail plea before the sessions court.
The court was hearing advocate Deepak Anand's plea for cancelling the anticipatory bail granted by a sessions court on July 5 to Tharoor, who is accused of abetting suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
However, Delhi Police has supported the plea but questioned the petitioner's stand on filing the plea.
"I am supporting him provided he proves his locus," said Rahul Mehra, Delhi Police's standing counsel.
Mehra claimed Tharoor's application was filed to bypass the procedure laid down in the law. He said Tharoor should have first gone to the magisterial court that had summoned him as an accused to seek bail.
The court listed the matter for October 9.
The petitioner says the anticipatory bail application of the Congress leader was premature and not maintainable since it was not in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and also in violation of the law laid down by the Supreme Court.
Citing a top court judgment, Anand said that anticipatory bail plea can only be filed during investigation or prior to investigation but not after the issuance of summons.
On June 5, the trial court had taken cognisance of the police charge-sheet and issued summons to Tharoor.
On May 14, police charge-sheeted Tharoor under Sections 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to abetment to suicide and cruelty to wife, which entails jail for up to 10 years.
Pushkar, 51, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that Tharoor was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.
