Supreme Court Flags Rising Incidents Of Foreign Accused Absconding After Bail, Seeks Union's Response

The Supreme Court has expressed concerns about the recurring instances of foreign citizens, who are accused of crimes, jumping bail and becoming untraceable.

The Court observed that a procedure needs to be laid down, if not already there, to deal with such instances.

A bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing a challenge made by the State of Jharkhand to the bail granted by the High Court to a Nigerian citizen in a cyber fraud case.

During the hearing, the bench was informed that the accused has jumped the bail and was now untraceable.  The Union Government's counsel, Advocate Kanu Agarwal, informed the bench that the Union was working on the matter.

"This is not a lone incident which has come before this Court and such cases are not uncommon. Therefore, a procedure has to be laid down, if not already there, as to how such a situation is to be dealt with and the procedures to be followed," the bench observed.

The bench granted two weeks time to the Union to inform the Court about the procedure.

Case : The State of Jharkhand v. Alex David @ MU Henry SLP(Crl.) 8629/2022