New Delhi, March 18 (H.S.): The Supreme Court, headed by Justice A.S. Oka, stated that a democratic country should not operate like a police state, where agencies exercise arbitrary powers to detain individuals without any solid reason.

The Supreme Court mentioned that two decades ago, bail petitions did not even reach the High Court. This comment was made while hearing a petition challenging the rejection of a bail application by a trial court and the High Court in Gujarat. The Supreme Court ordered the release of an accused who had been in jail for two years. In this case, even after the investigation was completed and the charge sheet was filed, both the trial court and the Gujarat High Court had rejected the bail application of the accused.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar