Supreme Law News

Can Anticipatory Bail Be Sought Even Before Filing of FIR?

क्या एफआईआर दर्ज होने से पहले भी अग्रिम जमानत मांगी जा सकती है?

In this case, the opposite party no.2 had given Rs.17,50,000/- to the applicant as financial help for the construction of his house, as they were friends and subsequently Rs.1 lakh on respective dates was paid by the applicant to him.

However, opposite party no.2 asked for repayment of the total outstanding money and abused and threatened him to repay otherwise he could be implicated in a false and fabricated case.

The applicant informed the incident to the S.P., Jaunpur on 7.1.2023 through registered post and till date he has already paid an amount of Rs.3,20,000/- to opposite party no.2 but the applicant has apprehension of his arrest.

The bench referred to the case of Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab, where it was stated that filing of the F.I.R. is not a condition precedent to exercise the power under Section 438(1) Cr.P.C.

In the above case, it was held that “when a person apprehends arrest and approaches a court for anticipatory bail, his apprehension (of arrest), has to be based on concrete facts (and not vague or general allegations) relatable to a specific offence or particular offences.

Applications for anticipatory bail should contain clear and essential facts relating to the offence, and why the applicant reasonably apprehends his or her arrest, as well as his version of the facts.

These are important for the court which is considering the application, the extent and reasonableness of the threat or apprehension, its gravity or seriousness and the appropriateness of any condition that may have to be imposed.

It is not a necessary condition that an application should be moved only after an FIR is filed; it can be moved earlier, so long as the facts are clear and there is a reasonable basis for apprehending arrest.”

High Court referred to the case of Sushila Aggarwal and others vs. State (NCT of Delhi) and another, where it has been emphasized that Section 438 Cr.P.C. does not compel or oblige Courts to impose conditions limiting relief in terms of time, or upon the filing of FIR, or recording of statement of any witness, by the police, during investigation or inquiry, etc.

High Court noted that no material in support of his plea of an entertaining reasonable belief that he is likely to be arrested in connection with the commission of a non-bailable offence has been produced on record by the applicant.

The law does not permit to knock at the door of the Court for grant of anticipatory bail on merely vague assertions in the absence of any relevant material and certainly the Court will not grant anticipatory bail in such a case.

In view of the above, the bench rejected the anticipatory bail application.

Case Title: Javed Ahmad v. State of U.P. and Another

Dr. Ajay Kummar Pandey

( LLM, MBA, (UK), PhD, AIMA, AFAI, PHD Chamber, ICTC, PCI, FCC, DFC, PPL, MNP, BNI, ICJ (UK), WP, (UK), MLE, Harvard Square, London, CT, Blair Singer Institute, (USA), Dip. in International Crime, Leiden University, the Netherlands )

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