Hiding criminal history is abuse of legal process: SC

The Supreme Court has taken a stern view of litigants concealing their criminal antecedents, holding that the suppression of such material facts amounts to an abuse of the judicial process and, by itself, warrants the outright rejection of a bail plea.

- Utkarsh Anand

What the top court said Failure to disclose past antecedents or withholding of information about the criminal cases pending against the petitioner/accused is a ground, in itself, to reject the prayer for grant of bail, as withholding of such relevant information would amount to abuse of process.

Dismissing the bail petition of a murder accused who falsely claimed to have no criminal history, a bench of justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe underlined that petitioners who fail to disclose their involvement in other criminal cases deserve no indulgence from the apex court and are not entitled even to a hearing on the merits.

“Failure to disclose past antecedents or withholding of information about the criminal cases pending against the petitioner/accused is a ground, in itself, to reject the prayer for grant of bail, as withholding of such relevant information would amount to abuse of process,” the bench said in a recent order.