The Supreme Court on Friday said the interim bail to journalist Arnab Goswami and two others in an abetment to suicide case will continue till the Bombay High Court disposes of their plea, and stated that the judiciary should ensure criminal law does not become a weapon for selective harassment.

A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud on Friday gave reasons for granting relief to the TV anchor and two others in the case.

The bench also said the Supreme Court, high courts and lower courts must be alive to the misuse of criminal law by the state machinery. They should ensure criminal law does not become a weapon for the selective harassment of citizens, it said.

“Doors of this court cannot be closed to the citizen who has prima facie showed state has misused its power,” it said, adding that deprivation of personal liberty even for a single day is too much. There is a pressing need for courts to remedy institutional problems of delay in dealing with bail applications, it said.