Overview

• The Supreme Court reserved its judgment on the State’s petition to cancel the Karnataka High Court’s December 2024 bail for Darshan.
• A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan labeled the High Court’s reasoning a “perverse exercise of judicial power” and questioned its application of discretion and unusual finding on grounds of arrest.
• The court directed all parties to file written submissions within a week and emphasized a daily trial schedule aimed at six-month completion.
• Justices challenged the special pace and preferential prison treatment afforded to the actor when other undertrial inmates wait years for hearings.
• Darshan and 13 co-accused stand charged with kidnapping, torturing, and murdering fan Renukaswamy in June 2024, with police alleging payments of Rs 50 lakh for the crime.