New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed all high courts not to grant anticipatory bail to absconding accused and seek protection from arrest from the Constitutional Court after his co-accused was acquitted after completion of trial. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Vijay Bishnoi quashed the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order granting anticipatory bail to the absconding accused and directed him to surrender and apply for regular bail. It expressed dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s direction to the trial court granting bail on the day the accused filed his bail plea.Judge Bishnoi, who wrote the judgment, said, “Generally speaking, absconders are not entitled to the relief of anticipatory bail. However, in certain special circumstances, if the court, after carefully reading the Criminal Intelligence Report, case diary and other relevant record materials, initially believes that the absconding defendant has not filed a case, it can exercise the power to grant anticipatory bail.”The court noted that the accused was part of a mob who not only escaped but also threatened to kill an injured person for opposing his bail plea. The judge said the co-accused’s acquittal could not justify granting him anticipatory bail as he failed to cooperate with investigations and delayed the trial.“The relief of granting anticipatory bail… sets a bad precedent and sends a message that law-abiding co-accused who are on trial are not participating seriously in the trial process and further incentivizes people to evade legal process with impunity,” the Supreme Court said.The judge directed the accused to surrender before the trial court within four weeks and seek regular bail.
