The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the non-bailable warrants issued by the Karnataka High Court against the State police chief Praveen Sood after he failed to appear in connection with a case linked to the transfer of a police officer.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad Bobde froze the warrants after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and advocate Shubhranshu Padhi appeared for the State and requested an urgent hearing. The High Court had ordered the warrants to be executed through the State Home Secretary. The warrants were issued on February 18 against Mr. Sood, the DG and IGP, citing “lack of assistance from the department” in a service case before the HC.
The High Court was hearing a petition filed by Deputy Superintendent of Police S.S. Kashi, who had challenged a Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal order refusing to stay his transfer to the Crime Branch. The special leave petition filed in the apex court submitted that Mr. Sood was held up because the Legislative Assembly was discussing a police firing incident at Mangaluru. Another senior police officer had appeared in the high court as stand-in for the police chief, but failed to appease the court.
