Bail & Related matters

The Supreme Court (SC) says, in Priya Indoria v State of Karnataka, that High Courts and Sessions Court have power to grant interim/transit anticipatory bail even when the First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in another State.

The Supreme Court (SC), in Sheikh Javed Iqbal @ Ashfaq Ansari @ Javed Ansari v. State of Uttar Pradesh, says that a constitutional court cannot be restrained from granting bail to an accused on account of restrictive statutory provisions in a penal statute if it finds that the right of the accused-undertrial under Article 21 of the Constitution of India has been infringed.

The Supreme Court (SC) says that the High Courts and Trial Courts have forgotten that bail cannot be denied as a punishment, in its judgement in Javed Gulam Nabi Shaikh v The State Of Maharashtra.

Default bail under Section 167(2) of the Criminal Procedures Code, 1973 (CrPC) can be granted to an accused based on an oral application alone, and no physical copy or written application is needed for seeking default bail, says High court of Kerala in a judgement in Akshay v State of Kerala [ 2023(1) KLT SN 44 (C No 38)].

After the dismissal of anticipatory bail application by the High Court (HC), a petitioner cannot file a subsequent anticipatory bail application, pointing out changes in circumstances, before the Sessions Court (SC). This is what the High Court of Kerala directs in Bipin Sunny v State of Kerala [ 2023 (5) KHC 125].

The Supreme Court in Teesta Atul Setalvad v State of Gujarat states that the factors, which are essentially considered at the stage of granting of bail under Sections 437 and 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, are: Whether the prima facia case is established The possibility of the accused tampering with the evidence or influencing the witness The possibility of the accused fleeing away from the hands of justice, and The gravity and the seriousness of the offence

Even if custodial interrogation is not required by the prosecution, then that would not be a sound reason to grant anticipatory bail. The need for custodial interrogation is a relevant aspect to be considered in anticipatory bail petitions. But that is not the only ground that the courts need to consider while deciding any application for anticipatory bail. In many cases, custodial interrogation of the accused may not be required at all. But that does not mean that the accused might be granted anticipatory bail.