New Delhi: The Supreme Court has pulled up Gujarat high court for granting bail to an accused in a murder case based on a ‘personal settlement’ between the accused and the son of the deceased.While quashing the high court’s order and ordering the accused to surrender immediately before the trial court, it also admonished the Gujarat government for not challenging the bail order.“Strangely enough one of the considerations that has weighed with the learned Single Judge includes the fact that the respondent No. 2 [the accused] has filed a settlement arrived at with the original complainant [son of the deceased] and the affidavit of the original complainant confirmed the said settlement, that too in respect of an offence under Section 302 [punishment for murder] of the IPC [Indian Penal Code],” the apex court said, according to Livelaw.The issue reached the division bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Rajesh Bindal at the top court when one of the injured persons in the crime appealed against the high court’s bail order. The accused attacked Parvinbahi (the deceased) and the appellant on September 17, 2021. While the appellant sustained injuries, Parvinbhai succumbed.The top court also objected to the high court’s observations made in the bail order that there are no criminal antecedents on the part of the accused, pointing out that the accused was arrested after being released on bail in connection with another first information report (FIR). While noting that the accused had spent “merely” six months in jail from September 23, 2021 to February 18, 2022, the apex court said there is a propensity on the part of the accused towards criminal behaviour and must, therefore, surrender promptly before the court.The court also pulled up the Gujarat government for not approaching the court, challenging the bail order. It issued orders to authorities concerned to forward the latest order to the home secretary of the state.“To our mind, this was a fit case where respondent No.1 [State] ought to have approached this Court against the order of bail granted by the High Court in favour of the respondent No.2 [the accused] but surprisingly, no steps were taken. A copy of this order shall be forwarded by learned counsel for respondent No. 1 [State] to the Secretary (Home), Government of Gujarat for his perusal and appropriate action,” the court said.