“Not to be treated as precedent”: How the Indian Supreme Court turned a fine judicial moment into a painful one

Last week, hearing the Delhi police's appeal against the Delhi High Court's bail orders for three students accused in the Delhi riots in 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the Delhi High Court's judgments shall not be treated as precedent, but at the same time, the apex court's order does not interfere with the bail orders. Attempting to break down the Supreme Court's reasoning in this order, ASHISH GOEL explains why the order lacks legal merit and impinges on the doctrine of precedent.

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THE Indian Supreme Court's vacation bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian has observed that the Delhi High Court's orders ("Orders") releasing three students on bail in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots case will not have any precedential value. What this essentially means is that those who are languishing in jail on similar charges will not be able to make use of the Orders to secure bail. 

While the Supreme Court did not interfere with the grant of bail of the three students, it put a stay on well-reasoned Orders for all practical purposes, without in fact staying the Orders.