Anticipatory bail jurisdiction limits bar a second High Court plea after rejection by the Sessions Court.

Anticipatory bail under Section 438 CrPC may be sought before either the High Court or the Sessions Court, and an accused may initially approach the forum having territorial connection with the offence or apprehended arrest. Once the applicant has chosen the Sessions Court and that application is rejected, judicial propriety requires pursuit of the remedy within the same State judicial hierarchy. The applicant cannot then invoke the jurisdiction of another High Court merely because arrest is feared in that State. On that basis, the anticipatory bail application was held not maintainable and was rejected.

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Issues: Whether an application for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was maintainable before the High Court in Maharashtra after the applicant had already moved the Sessions Court in Madhya Pradesh and suffered rejection there.

Analysis: The jurisdiction under Section 438 is available both to the High Court and the Sessions Court, and an accused may initially approach the court within whose jurisdiction the offence is committed or the court where arrest is apprehended. However, once the applicant chose to move the Sessions Court having territorial connection with the alleged offence and that application was rejected, judicial propriety required him to pursue the remedy before the High Court under the same State jurisdiction. The Court held that he could not, after such rejection, invoke the jurisdiction of another High Court merely on the ground that arrest was apprehended within that State.

Conclusion: The anticipatory bail application was not maintainable before this Court and was rejected.

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