INX Media Case: Anticipatory Bail Plea by P Chidambaram likely to be heard by Supreme Court on August 23

The appeal by P Chidambaram against Delhi High Court order refusing anticipatory bail in the INX Media case is likely to be heard by the Supreme Court on August 23..This comes after attempts by Chidambaram’s lawyers to get the matter listed today for urgent hearing did not bear fruition..The matter was first mentioned today at 10.30 AM before Justice NV Ramana by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal. Justice Ramana had told Sibal that the filed would be placed before the Chief Justice of India and had asked him to mention the matter before the CJI..Sibal and his team of lawyers had then made their way into CJI court. However, when the five-Judge Constitution Bench assembled to hear the Ayodhya dispute case, no mentioning was made as the Bench directly proceeded to hear the Ayodhya case..Subsequently, the matter was once again mentioned before Justice Ramana at 2 pm. Sibal told the Court that they were constrained to mention the case before him at 2 PM given that the petition was not listed..Ramana J. told Sibal that the petition was lying in defects..Sibal told the Court that defects in the petition had been cured and that it ought to have been listed..Justice Ramana then called the Supreme Court Registrar to ask why the petition has not been listed. The Registrar informed the Court that defects in the petition had just been cleared and that the process for listing was being followed..Justice Ramana, therefore, stated that he cannot pass any orders without the case being listed. However, Sibal persisted and submitted that the Court has, in the past, granted protection to litigants upon oral mentioning..“As per Supreme Court Rules, I cannot mention it before the Constitution Bench. When I come here (before Ramana J), Your Lordships say go to CJI. We will give am undertaking that he will not go anywhere. Your Lordships have done it in the past and protected on oral mentioning… My client is not going to run away. There is a lookout notice issued against him. He is not going to run away.”.Justice Ramana, however, declined to pass any orders. Subsequently, the lawyers had once again queued up before CJI and it was expected that they would mention the matter before the Ayodhya Bench rose. However, that did not happen and as the Bench rose and no mentioning was made..P Chidambaram was denied anticipatory bail by the Delhi High Court in the INX Media case yesterday..Delhi HC denies anticipatory bail to P Chidambaram in INX Media case.Remarking that an offender must be exposed irrespective of his status, Justice Sunil Gaur of the Delhi High Court had observed that a prima facie case was made out against Chidambaram, and that it was not a fit case for grant of pre-arrest bail..Chidambaram was then constrained to approach the Supreme Court seeking an urgent listing of his appeal.