Anticipatory bail conditions cannot be used for debt recovery; deposit-linked terms must stay within Section 438 limits.

A condition requiring deposit of money as a prerequisite for anticipatory bail is unsustainable where it is not reasonably connected to securing investigation or trial and instead operates as a means of recovering alleged dues. Conditions under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure must be relevant, fair, and not harsh, onerous, or excessive; they cannot convert criminal process into civil recovery. Because the impugned deposit condition was tied to an undertaking rather than the statutory criteria, and the dispute was predominantly civil, the bail application required fresh consideration on its own merits.

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Issues: Whether a condition requiring deposit of money as a precondition for grant of anticipatory bail was legally sustainable, and whether the matter called for reconsideration of the bail application on its own merits.

Analysis: The governing principles for anticipatory bail require that any condition imposed under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 must be reasonable, relevant to securing the investigation or trial, and not harsh, onerous, excessive, or unrelated to the fairness of the criminal process. A bail court cannot use the power under Section 438 to compel recovery of alleged money involved in a private dispute, since criminal proceedings are not a substitute for civil recovery. The authorities relied on reaffirm that payment-linked conditions are impermissible where they effectively transform anticipatory bail into a recovery mechanism. In the present case, the impugned deposit condition was founded on an undertaking and not on the statutory parameters governing anticipatory bail, and the dispute was predominantly civil in nature.

Conclusion: The condition directing deposit of Rs. 22,00,000/- as a prerequisite for anticipatory bail was unsustainable, and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration of the bail application on its own merits.

Ratio Decidendi: Conditions attached to anticipatory bail must be confined to the purposes recognised by Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and cannot be used to enforce payment or recovery of alleged dues in a private dispute.

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