SC dismisses bail plea of former Jharkhand minister Yogendra Sao

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea of former Jharkhand minister Yogendra Sao seeking bail in a 2016 case of rioting and violence in the state in which several people were injured. He challenged the Jharkhand High Court order of May 20 by which it had rejected his bail plea on the ground that the FIR reveals that Sao along with his then MLA wife Nirmala Devi, disrupted mining activities in a NTPC project and on account which several persons were injured. A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy rejected Sao's plea against the high court order which noted that he flouted the conditions imposed by the top court while granting bail to him on December 15, 2017 which ultimately led to his cancellation of bail. On April 12, last year, the top court had directed Sao to surrender before a court in Ranchi after he had violated bail conditions imposed by the court. Sao, who was then in the Congress Party, had become a minister in the Hemant Soren-led UPA government in Jharkhand in 2013. He is an accused in over a dozen cases of rioting and instigation of violence. Both Sao and his MLA wife Nirmala Devi were granted bail on December 15, 2017, by the top court while directing them to stay in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh as a bail condition. They were allowed to visit Jharkhand only for court hearings under police protection after intimating the Bhopal superintendent of police. The top court had rejected their plea allowing the couple to visit Jharkhand for a month for electioneering, saying they were influential persons and do not deserve any indulgence.

It, however, had refused to cancel the bail of Devi and said that her deviations in bail conditions are not substantial keeping in mind that she was a legislator. The top court had transferred the trial of 18 cases against Sao and Devi to Ranchi from Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand. It, however, refused to allow the plea of Devi to let her stay in Patna in neighbouring Bihar instead of Bhopal. The court had said that it is satisfied that there has been breach of bail conditions imposed on Sao as his "unauthorized presence" was found in Jharkhand while he was directed to stay in Bhopal. It was found that Sao left Bhopal on several occasions without any intimation to local authorities despite direction from the court and his presence in Jharkhand during the corresponding period was not disputed, the court had said. Jharkhand government through standing counsel Tapesh Kumar Singh had told the apex court that since Sao was granted bail on December 15, 2017, out of 253 days he has lived in Bhopal only for 25 days.

Both Devi and Sao were accused in a case relating to violent clashes between villagers and police in 2016 in which several people had suffered injuries. Devi, a Congress MLA, had led an agitation against NTPC authorities for their alleged attempt to forcibly evacuate villagers from Barkagaon without giving them due compensation or rehabilitation, according to police. According to the FIR, some mining work was being done by NTPC which was tried to be thwarted by Sao, Devi and others in September 2016 and despite prohibitory orders, they sat on dharna for nearly 15 days. The FIR said that the protesters had also not allowed the workers to run the machines for mining as a result of which mining work was totally stopped. The FIR alleged that the administration had tried to remove the dharna and Devi was asked to stop the protest at which she had threatened officials and assaulted them. Due to instigation and violence several people were injured including officials of administration..