2012 (5) TMI 767
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....trollable agony, a penetrating nightmarish perplexity and above all a sense of vacuum withering the very essence of existence. It is because liberty is deep as eternity and deprivation of it, infernal. May be for this protectors of liberty ask, "How acquisition of entire wealth of the world would be of any consequence if one's soul is lost?" It has been quite often said that life without liberty is eyes without vision, ears without hearing power and mind without coherent thinking faculty. 4. Almost two centuries and a decade back thus spoke Edmund Burke: - "Men are qualified for civil liberty, in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity; in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsel of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution ....
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....rration. In these two appeals arising out of SLP No. 7281 of 2011 and 7286 of 2011, the challenge is to the orders dated 22.07.2011 and 05.08.2011 in BLAPL No. 13036 of 2011 and 12975 of 2011 respectively passed by the High Court of Judicature of Orissa at Cuttack in respect of five accused persons under Section 438 of the Code pertaining to offences punishable under Section 341/294/506 and 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "the IPC") in connection with Binjharpur PS Case No. 88/2011 corresponding to GR Case No. 343 of 2011 pending in the Court of learned SDJM, Jajpur. 9. The present appeals have been preferred by the sister of the deceased and the complainant, an eye witness, seeking quashing of the orders on the foundation that the High Court has extended the benefit of Section 438 (1) of the Code in an illegal and impermissible manner. 10. The facts that had formed the bedrock in setting the criminal law in motion need not be stated, for the nature of orders passed by High Court in both the cases have their own peculiarity. If we allow ourselves to say they have the enormous potentiality to create colossal puzzlement as regards the exercise of po....
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....r type o f offence . In case any complaint is received against them that will amount to cancellation of bail" [Emphasis supplied] 13. On a perusal of both the orders it is perceivable that the commonality in both the orders is that while the High Court had expressed its opinion that though it is not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners yet it has directed on their surrender some of the accused petitioners would be enlarged on bail on such terms and conditions as may be deemed fit and proper by the concerned Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate and cases of certain accused persons on surrender shall be dealt with on their own merits. 14. The learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that the High Court has gravely flawed in passing such kind of orders in exercise of power under Section 438 of the Code which the law does not countenance and, therefore, they deserved to be lancinated. It is his further submission that when the accused persons are involved in such serious offences the High Court could not have dealt with them by taking recourse to an innovative method which has no sanction in law. 15. The learned counsel for the respondent made a very....
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....iders such presence necessary in the interest of justice. (2) When the High Court or the Court of Session makes a direction under sub-section (1), it may include such conditions in such directions in the light of the facts of the particular case, as it may thinks fit, including - (i) a condition that the person shall make himself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required; (ii) a condition that the person shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer; (iii) a condition that the person shall not leave India without the previous permission of the court; (iv) such other condition as may be imposed under sub-section (3) of section 437, as if the bail were granted -under that section. (3) If such person is thereafter arrested without warrant by an officer in charge of a police station on such accusation, and is prepared either at the time of arrest or at any time while in the custody of such officer to give bail, he shall be released on bail, a....
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....plicant by having him arrested, a direction for the release of the applicant on bail in the event of his arrest would generally be made. On the other hand, if it appears likely, considering the antecedents of the applicant, that taking advantage of the order of anticipatory bail he will flee from justice, such an order would not be made. However, it cannot be laid down as an inexorable rule that anticipatory bail cannot be granted unless the proposed accusation appears to be actuated by mala fides; and equally, that anticipatory bail must be granted if there is no fear that the applicant will abscond. The Constitution Bench also opined the Court has to take into consideration the combined effect of several other considerations which are too numerous to enumerate and the legislature has endowed the responsibility on the High Court and the Court of Session because of their experience. 21. The Constitution Bench proceeded to state the essential concept of exercise of jurisdiction under Section 438 of the Code on following terms:- "Exercise of jurisdiction under Section 438 of Code of Criminal Procedure is extremely important judicial function of a judge and must be entrust....
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....a limited duration only and ordinarily on the expiry of that duration or extended duration the Court granting anticipatory bail should leave it to the regular court to deal with the matter on appreciation of material placed before it. 24. In K. L. Verma v. State and Anr. (1998) 9 SCC 348), it was ruled that limited duration must be determined having regard to the facts of the case and the need to give the accused sufficient time to move the court for regular bail and to give the regular court sufficient time to determine the bail application. It was further observed therein that till the bail application is disposed of one way or the other, the Court may allow the accused to remain on anticipatory bail. 25. In Nirmal Jeet Kaur v. State of M. P. and Another( 2004) 7 SCC 558), the decision in K. L. Verma's case (supra) was clarified by stating that the benefit of anticipatory bail may be extended few days thereafter to enable the accused persons to move the High Court if they so desire. 26. In Adri Dharan Das v. State of West Bengal(2005) 4 SCC 303), a two- Judge Bench while accepting for grant of bail for limited duration has held that arrest is a part of the process of inv....
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.... the result would be clear bypassing of what is mandated in Section 439 regarding custody. In other words, till the applicant avails remedies up to higher Courts, the requirements of Section 439 become dead letter. No part of a statute can be rendered redundant in that manner." 28. In Union of India v. Padam Narain Agarwal (AIR 2009 SC 254) this Court while dealing with an order wherein the High Court had directed that the respondent therein shall appear before the concerned customs authorities in response to the summons issued to them and in case the custom authorities found a nonbailable against the accused persons they shall not arrest without ten days prior notice to them. The two-Judge Bench relied on the decisions in Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia (supra), Adri Dharan Das (supra), and State of Mahrashtra v. Mohd. Rashid and Anr. (2005) 7 SCC 56) and eventually held thus:- "In our judgment, on the facts and in the circumstances of the present case, neither of the above directions can be said to be legal, valid or in consonance with law. Firstly, the order passed by the High Court is a blanket one as held by the Constitution Bench of this Court in Gurbaksh Singh and seeks to grant....
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....ssed the view that it not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the accused petitioners it could not have issued such a direction which would tantamount to conferment of benefit by which the accused would be in a position to avoid arrest. It is in clear violation of the language employed in the statutory provision and in flagrant violation of the dictum laid down in the case of Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia (supra) and the principles culled out in the case of Savitri Agarwal (supra). It is clear as crystal the court cannot issue a blanket order restraining arrest and it can only issue an interim order and the interim order must also conform to the requirement of the section and suitable conditions should be imposed. In the case of Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia (supra) the Constitution Bench has clearly observed that exercise of jurisdiction under Section 438 of the Code is an extremely important judicial function of a judge and both individual and society have vital interest in the orders passed by the court in anticipatory bail applications. 31. In this context it is profitable to refer to a three-Judge Bench decision in Dr. Narendra K. Amin v. State of Gujarat and another(2008 (6) SCALE 415)....
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