Maharashtra to send 50 leopards to Reliance Foundation's Vantara facility in Gujarat: Sources
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has decided to send 50 leopards to Reliance Foundation's Vantara wildlife rescue and conservation centre located in Jamnagar in neighbouring Gujarat, sources close to state forest minister Ganesh Naik have said.
The forest department made the decision to strengthen conservation efforts for the big cats while also addressing concerns related to increasing human-leopard interactions in parts of Maharashtra, they said on Friday.
According to sources, the arrangement was finalised after discussions between Naik and the Vantara management.
Further details about the timeline and modalities of transferring the leopards are expected to be finalised by the forest department in coordination with the facility's management, they added.
Parts of Maharashtra witnessed a series of leopard attacks in November and December, 2025.
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Court can reject anticipatory bail but cannot direct accused to surrender: SC
New Delhi (PTI): A court can reject anticipatory bail of an accused but it has no jurisdiction to direct him to surrender before the trial court, the Supreme Court has said.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan made the observation while hearing a plea filed by a man accused of cheating and forgery.
"If the court wants to reject the anticipatory bail, it may do so, but the court has no jurisdiction to say that the petitioner should now surrender," the bench said.
The Jharkhand High Court had rejected anticipatory bail plea of the accused and asked him to surrender and seek regular bail.
In this case, a complaint had been filed before a magistrate alleging offences under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document) and 120B read with 34 of the IPC, in connection with a land dispute.
The high court had dismissed the second anticipatory bail application of the accused on the ground that no new circumstances were shown.
It had relied on its earlier order rejecting his first anticipatory bail plea, in which the court directed the petitioner to surrender before the trial court and seek regular bail in terms of the decision in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI.
The top court said such a direction was wholly without jurisdiction and said that if a court chooses to reject anticipatory bail, it may do so, but it cannot compel the accused to surrender.
