"You Bit Off His Ear, Ate It": Supreme Court While Rejecting Man's Bail Petition

You "bit off his ear and ate it", the Supreme Court on Wednesday pointed out to the accused as it rejected his anticipatory bail petition in the case. 

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran was hearing a petition challenging the February 2026 order of the Jharkhand High Court, which had refused to grant anticipatory bail to Rajeev Ranjan Kumar in the case of violent clashes on the night of Janmashtmi in Ranchi.

The accused's lawyer argued that there was a dispute going on between the neighbours for a long time, which escalated one night. 

In this case, separate FIRs were lodged by both the parties. The lawyer of the accused said the incident took place on the night of Janmashtami, when people were celebrating. 

"You first took out the gun, then grabbed his ear and bit off the entire ear and you want anticipatory bail?" the court commented. 

When the lawyer of the accused said that the allegation of taking out the gun was false, the court said, "Let's leave the issue of the gun. What to do with the ear? How to get his ear back?"

The accused called himself a victim.

The accused's lawyer claimed that his client was also beaten up in the clash. He said he was pinned to the ground, his hands and legs were grabbed and he was cut on his chest.

To this the court asked, "Do you believe that there was a fight?"

"Yes, there was a fight," the lawyer replied, adding that his client is ready to cooperate in the investigation. 

However, the court was not satisfied with these arguments and rejected the anticipatory bail plea.

An FIR was registered against Rajiv Ranjan Kumar in 2024 at Argora police station in Ranchi. He was charged under several sections of the  Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including section 118. This section deals with voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or instruments.

Jharkhand High Court, while denying anticipatory bail, had said that as per the police report, the victim had multiple serious cut wounds on his head and face.