Supreme Court Upholds Bail Granted to Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in NDPS Case

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by the Punjab government challenging the bail granted to Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in a 2015 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case. The bench of justices Bela M Trivedi and KV Viswanathan refused to stay the bail order, stating, “We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order passed by the high court.” Despite acknowledging the seriousness of the allegations, the court held that, given the time elapsed since the case was registered in 2015 and the high court’s thorough consideration, it was not a fit case for interference.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted bail to Sukhpal Singh Khaira on January 4 in connection with the 2015 drugs case. However, his reprieve was short-lived as he faced subsequent arrest by the Kapurthala police in another case involving threats and intimidation of a witness in the NDPS case. On January 15, a Kapurthala court released Khaira on bail in the second case, allowing the three-time MLA to walk out of Nabha jail after spending four months in custody.

In response to concerns raised by the Punjab government about Khaira being a potential threat to witnesses and making controversial statements post-release, the Supreme Court bench advised the state government to present relevant facts to the trial court or the high court. The court emphasized that subsequent events should not be a reason to interfere with the bail order and refrained from making any comments or granting further interventions in the matter.

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