Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest to RTI activist and whistleblower Satyendra Kumar Jain of Sagar. Jain has been accused of abetment to suicide, extortion,and the SC/ST Act.
A division bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and S.C. Sharma passed the order while hearing Jain’s Special Leave Petition challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s refusal to grant him anticipatory bail.
In his petition, Jain claimed that through his RTI applications, he had allegedly exposed large-scale corruption in the Sagar Municipal Corporation's government contracts.
His complaints led to investigations by the Lokayukta and the EOW against several officials. Following the suicide of an auditor who allegedly consumed celphos tablets, the police booked Jain, citing statements from the deceased’s family alleging that he had demanded money to settle cases.
The High Court had earlier denied him anticipatory bail while citing the statutory bar under Section 18 of the SC/ST Act.
However, Advocate Siddharth R. Gupta and Vipul Jain, who appeared for Jain, argued before the Supreme Court that there was no evidence of communication or contact between him and the deceased and that Jain was framed in the case on the behest of corrupt officials.
Accepting these submissions, the apex court granted interim relief and issued notices to the state government, the police, and the complainant, seeking their replies in the case.
