New Delhi, Oct 10: In an important judgement, the
Supreme Court has ruled that there is no prohibition for the
competent courts to grant anticipatory bail to an accused even
if the investigating agency has filed a chargesheet against
him in a non-bailable offence.
This ruling was given by a bench comprising Justice N
Santosh Hegde and Justice B P Singh while granting
anticipatory bail to a couple accused of harassing their
daughter-in-law for dowry.
"In our opinion, the courts i.e the courts of sessions,
high court or this court has the necessary power vested in
them to grant anticipatory bail in non-bailable offences under
Section 438 of the criminal procedure code even when
cognizance if taken or chargesheet is filed provided the facts
of the case require the court to do so," it said.
Setting aside an order of the Patna High Court rejecting
their pre-arrest bail plea, it said object of Section 438 of
the Criminal Procedure Code was to prevent undue harassment of
accused persons by pre-trial arrest and detention.
Appearing for Bihar government, counsel B B Singh argued
that since the trial court has taken cognizance of the
offence, Section 438 could not be used for granting
anticipatory bail even by the apex court.
He had contended that the only remedy available to the
appellants was to approach the trial court, surrender and
thereafter apply for regular bail under Section 439 of the
code.
Bureau Report
