Law is same for everyone, including foreigners: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today set aside an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court granting bail to a British national in an alleged murder case, observing there was no reason to accord special consideration for him just because he was a foreigner.

The apex court also set aside the high court order granting bail to two other co-accused in the murder case lodged in 2015 on the ground of parity.

While setting aside the high court's last year order, a bench comprising Justices N V Ramana and S A Nazeer said that as per the prosecution, British national Resham Chand Kaler along with others had allegedly indulged in criminal activity.


"We see no reason to accord any special consideration for respondent no. one (Kaler) by virtue of a simple fact that he is a citizen of different country. The law under section 439 of CrPC (relating to grant of bail) is very clear and in the eyes of the law, every accused is the same irrespective of their nationality," the bench said.

Kaler had initially moved the trial court seeking bail but his plea was rejected following which he had approached the high court which granted him the relief.

The complainant in the case thereafter approached the top court challenging the high court's order.

During the hearing before the apex court, the state had supported the plea of the complainant and argued that bail was granted to the accused against the "established tenets" under the bail jurisprudence.

"Though the respondent no. one (Kaler) is not a citizen of this country (British national), yet the fact remains that he along with other persons has indulged in the criminal activity," the bench said.

The top court also observed that it was unfortunate that the high court had not appreciated the facts of the case with "prudent legal perception".

"For all the aforesaid reasons, the appeal is allowed. We, therefore, set aside the order of the high court granting bail to the respondent no. one (Kaler) and direct the concerned police authorities to take the respondent no. 1 into custody immediately," it said.