The Madhya Pradesh High Court was recently compelled to recall two bail orders after a typographical error resulted in a murder accused being granted bail when his plea was supposed to be rejected, Bar and Bench reported.
The matter came to light on August 8, when the counsel for a co-accused informed the court that in two connected bail applications, the outcomes had been inadvertently interchanged.
The counsel told the court that his client’s plea, which was meant to be allowed, was dismissed, while another application which should have been rejected was mistakenly allowed.
A Bench of Justice Rajesh Kumar Gupta examined the submissions and agreed that the error was genuine, said the report.
"The submission of learned counsel for the petitioner appears to be correct. In view of the aforesaid, earlier order dated 07.08.2025 passed in both the MCr C Nos31180/2025 and 28977/2025 are hereby recalled," the court observed. The cases were then posted for further hearing on August 11.
The case pertains to a July 5, 2024 incident in which three men allegedly assaulted a man, leading to his death.
Halke and Dharmendra allegedly beat the victim with sticks, while a third accused, Ashok, allegedly threw a stone that struck the victim’s chest.
Halke and Ashok eventually filed petitions seeking bail, both of which were listed together by the Court. On August 7, the Court passed an order granting Halke bail.
"Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, but without expressing any opinion on merits of the case, this application is allowed," the now-recalled order said, as per the report.
According to the report, in a separate order passed on Ashok's bail plea, which recounted the same facts, the court said that it was dismissing the bail application.
"Considering the totality of facts and circumstances of the case, the nature of allegations levelled against the present applicant, the gravity of the offence, without commenting upon the merits of the case, no case is made out for grant of bail to the applicant at this stage," the recalled order in Ashok's case has been quoted as saying.
The next day, on August 8, Ashok's counsel flagged the error to the court and said that the bail outcomes in these cases appears to have been inadvertently switched. This led to the judge recalling its earlier orders and posting the matter for August 11.
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