Jayalalithaa moves SC for bail

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, currently lodged in Bangalore jail following her conviction in a disproportionate assets case, Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking bail on several grounds including her ill health.

Jayalalithaa, along with her aide Sasikala Natrajan, V.K. Sudhakaran and J. Ilavarasi, were Tuesday refused bail by the Karnataka High Court which held that there were no grounds for granting bail.

Jayalalithaa alone moved the apex court for the grant of bail. The other three would be filing their appeals in a day or two.

Besides her health grounds, Jayalalithaa has invoked section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking the suspension of her sentence and grant of bail till the pendency of her appeal against the trial court order convicting her in the case and sentencing her to a four-year jail term and a fine of Rs.100 crore.

The high court Oct 7, while declining bail to Jayalalithaa and three others, had relied on apex court orders as it ruled that putting the sentence on hold after an appeal is filed against the trial court order was not automatic. It had said that plea for bail after the conviction was different from the plea for bail while the trial was on.

It had also cited the apex court ruling that "corruption amounts to violation of human rights and leads to economic imbalances".