New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday extended the bail of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalithaa, who was convicted and sentenced to jail in a disproportionate assets case.
The order was passed by the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu who extended the bail of Jayalalithaa and others till May 12.
As per PTI, the apex court also gave time till May 12 to the Karnataka High Court judge to dispose of J Jayalalithaa's appeal against her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.
The High Court judge is at liberty to move further application for extension of time to dispose of appeal in view of matter pending in larger bench of apex court, the apex court said.
On April 15, the apex court had said that AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa's DA case spanning for 15 years was "a classic illustration of what is wrong with our criminal justice delivery system," and "something drastic" has to be done to remedy it.
"It is the criminal justice delivery system that comes out the loser," Justice Madan B Lokur said while referring to the chequered history of the case in which it was alleged that high-profile accused persons used power and influence to manipulate and subvert the criminal justice system.
The judge said even if the allegations are not true, "it is extremely unfortunate that a criminal trial should take more than 15 years to conclude."
The remarks were made by him in his judgement while dealing with petition of DMK leader K Anbazhagan seeking removal of Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Bhavani Singh before Karnataka High Court which is seized with the appeal of Jayalalithaa against her conviction and four year sentence and Rs 100 crore fine.
While Justice Lokur allowed the DMK leader's plea, another judge in the bench, Justice R Bhanumathi disagreed with him on the removal of SPP.
In the fourth paragraph of his 78-page judgement, Justice Lokur expressed his anguish and later discussed how the criminal justice system had suffered at different stages. On October 17, the apex court had granted conditional bail to Jayalalithaa who was sent to jail by a trial court on September 27.
With PTI inputs
