New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday criticized the Karnataka High Court’s decision to grant bail to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa and six others in the Renukaswamy murder case. Calling it a “perverse exercise of discretionary power,” the court questioned whether the High Court had used proper judgment.
A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan was hearing the Karnataka government’s appeal against the High Court’s December 13, 2024, order granting bail. The court noted that all accused are now out on bail and the trial has not even started.
Justice Pardiwala expressed concern that the High Court’s bail order seemed more like an acquittal, questioning whether such detailed reasoning is normal in bail matters. He also criticized how the High Court dismissed the testimony of two eyewitnesses as unreliable without thorough reasoning.
The court reserved its verdict for now and asked remaining defence lawyers to submit their notes within a week. Earlier, on July 17, the same bench had already expressed doubts about the High Court’s judgment, stating they were “not at all convinced” by how the discretion was used to grant bail.
