In a major development, India’s Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former Rajasthan MLA Giriraj Singh Malinga, who is accused of assaulting a Dalit engineer in the state’s power department. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Arvind Kumar directed the trial court to impose suitable bail conditions.
Malinga, formerly a Congress leader now in the ruling BJP, surrendered after the SC order last month. This happened after the Rajasthan High Court canceled his bail.
The SC bench kept Malinga’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) pending, scheduling another hearing after his surrender.
In his complaint, Harshdhipathi, an engineer with the Rajasthan Electricity Department, had claimed that he was brutally beaten up on March 28, 2022. At that time Harshdhipati was stationed in Dholpur and Malinga was the sitting Congress MLA from Bari. Malinga was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Advocates Ajit Sharma and Aditya Vikram Singh represented Malinga in the Supreme Court. The court has made oral observations showing that the complainant is also a political person. Rajasthan was represented by Additional Advocate General Shivmangal Sharma and Advocates Amog Bansal and Sonali Gaur. Rajasthan opposed the bail request in its counter affidavit, highlighting the seriousness of the charges. However, the state has finally left the decision to the Supreme Court and submitted that it will follow its instructions.
Malinga’s lawyers also said that after the surrender, the concerned Superintendent of Police was ‘paraded’ for a mile.
In his complaint, Malinga, along with his aides, entered the office and hurled caste abuse and hit him with a chair after the engineer had a dispute over the removal of some electricity transformers in his constituency.
In May 2022, the Rajasthan High Court granted bail to Malinga on judicial assistance grounds. Shortly after, Malinga’s release was followed by public celebrations, including a road show where he allegedly made a terrifying statement. Later, the complainant sought the cancellation of Malinga’s bail, citing concerns that his actions after release would influence public opinion and undermine the justice process through intimidation.
In July 2024, in view of the evidence and allegations of Malinga’s post-bail public conduct, including inflammatory comments and displays of power, the Rajasthan High Court revoked his bail, directing him to surrender within 30 days.
Malinga then approached the Supreme Court, which temporarily stayed the high court’s quashing order, offering him temporary relief. However, last month the Supreme Court directed Malinga to surrender.
In the months following the 2022 attacks, Dalit organizations across Rajasthan mounted a sustained campaign against Malinga, urging the Congress not to give him a ticket. Left wing by the Congress party ahead of the 2023 assembly elections, Malinga, a three-time MLA who was undefeated from the seat since 2008, joined the BJP in November 2023 in the presence of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. He was then fielded by BJP from Bari constituency but was defeated by BSP’s Jaswant Singh Gurjar by over 27,000 votes.
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