Supreme Court: HCs can’t refuse pre-bail & stay arrest

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday resolved a dichotomy in approach of high courts and ruled that they can’t reject anticipatory bail plea of an accused and at the same time grant protection from arrest for a specified period.
A bench of CJI NV Ramana and justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose gave this ruling while dealing with two orders of the Allahabad HC, which, while dismissing anticipatory bail applications of the accused, had granted them 90 days to surrender before the trial court to seek regular bail and protected them from coercive action during this period.
Writing the judgment, Ramana said the sole issue requiring adjudication “in the present appeals relates to whether the HC, while dismissing the anticipatory bail applications of the respondents, could have granted them protection from arrest”. The bench set aside the HC orders but proceeded to interpret the jurisdiction of the HCs in granting pre-arrest bail.
The CJI said the HCs and SC were given powers to grant anticipatory bail to the accused because of the premium that the Constitution places on the right to liberty guaranteed under Article 21. “The grant or rejection of an application under CrPC has a direct bearing on the right to life and liberty of an individual,” he said. “The provision needs to be read liberally, and considering its beneficial nature, the courts must not read in restrictions that the legislature have not explicitly provided for. Any ambiguity in the language must be resolved in favour of the applicant seeking relief,” the bench said.