Concurrent bail jurisdiction does not allow parallel applications; Sessions Court should ordinarily be approached first, absent exceptional circumstances.

Concurrent bail jurisdiction of the Sessions Court and the High Court does not permit an applicant to pursue parallel bail remedies at the same time. The Court stated that bail should ordinarily be sought first before the Sessions Court, and a direct petition before the High Court is justified only in exceptional circumstances. Where a Sessions Court application is already pending and no special circumstances are shown, simultaneous filing before both forums is impermissible and the High Court petition is not maintainable. The petition was ultimately permitted to be withdrawn.

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Issues: (i) Whether a petitioner can simultaneously pursue bail relief before the Sessions Court and the High Court and whether a direct petition before the High Court is maintainable when the Sessions Court application is pending.

Analysis: The Court held that although the High Court and the Sessions Court have concurrent jurisdiction in bail matters, the use of the disjunctive expression indicates that the remedy is ordinarily to be pursued before one forum first and not simultaneously before both. It further held that, as a matter of sound judicial discretion, the Sessions Court should normally be approached first, and direct approach to the High Court is justified only in exceptional circumstances. In the absence of special circumstances, simultaneous filing before both courts was held impermissible, and the pending Sessions Court application rendered the High Court petition not maintainable.

Conclusion: Simultaneous bail applications before the Sessions Court and the High Court were held to be impermissible, and the petition before the High Court was not maintainable on merits.

Final Conclusion: The matter ended with permission to withdraw the petition, while the Court also reiterated that bail should ordinarily be sought first before the Sessions Court and that direct or parallel invocation of the High Court is exceptional.

Ratio Decidendi: Concurrent bail jurisdiction does not entitle an applicant to pursue parallel remedies before both courts at the same time; the Sessions Court should ordinarily be approached first unless exceptional circumstances justify direct recourse to the High Court.

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