On July 21, the Supreme Court bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Surya Kant recused itself from hearing the case and deferred it by four weeks. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had taken issue with Malik's appearance before the top court, saying that the procedure is that the Registrar of the court needs to approve of such appearances. He expressed sharp disapproval of the jail officials present in the court for allowing Malik, and apprised the bench that he cannot be brought out of jail since Section 268 of the Criminal Procedure Code applies to him. The SG added that the Central government will be taking necessary steps to ensure that Malik is not let out of jail again, and said that it is a heavy security issue. Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, who appeared for the CBI, said that Malik was brought out of jail callously by the jail authorities upon misinterpretation of the top court's order. The next day, Delhi prison authorities suspended four officers in Malik's security lapse case, an official had told. Last year in May, Malik -- who was pleaded guilty -- was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special NIA court in a terror funding case, and was convicted of offences under Sections 120B, 121, 121A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 13 and 15 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) read with 120B of the IPC besides Sections 17, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of UAPA. /IANS