[ISRO Espionage] Kerala High Court Extends Time Limit On Siby Mathew's Pre-Arrest Bail Order Till 27th November

The Kerala High Court on Friday extended the pre-arrest bail granted by the Sessions Court to former DGP Siby Mathews, the fourth accused in the ISRO espionage case till 27th October, Wednesday.

Justice K Haripal after noting that the time limit mentioned in the Sessions Court order will expire before the next hearing date extended the pre-arrest bail for another three days.

Senior Advocate P Vijayabhanu appearing for the applicant submitted that the 60 days limit imposed on the anticipatory bail by the Sessions Court will expire on October 24th.

However, the counsel appearing for ASG sought more time to make submissions on behalf of CBI. This is when the petitioner sought to extend the time period. The Court was inclined to grant this interim relief and posted the case for the hearing on October 27.

In his plea, the applicant mentioned that although he was granted bail in the matter, the Sessions Court curtailed the relief granted to him for a period of 60 days as the 6th condition in its order.

The applicant in his application urged that the time limit imposed on the pre-arrest bail granted to the applicant be set aside as it is in stark violation of the law settled by the Supreme Court in Sushila Aggarwal v State of NCT of Delhi [2020(5) SCC 1].

In the said judgment, it was laid down that an order under Section 438 Cr.PC should not be limited to a fixed period and that the life of an anticipatory bail may continue till the end of the trial.

However, in the same decision, a rider has been included whereby if there are specific facts or features in regard to any offence, it is open for the court to impose any appropriate conditions. The applicant justified his stand in this regard by submitting that the other accused in the matter had been granted bail by the High court through a common order and that such order did not contain any fixed time limit for the same.

The applicant also argued that the Sessions Judge had erred in restricting the validity of the anticipatory bail.

On several grounds, the applicant submitted that the time limit may be vacated and accordingly set aside from the anticipatory bail granted to him to secure the ends of justice.

The Court on a previous hearing had sought the response of CBI in the matter. 

Case Title: Siby Mathews v. Central Bureau of Investigation