Anticipatory Bail Plea Rendered Non-Maintainable If No Interim Protection Granted And Proclamation U/S 82 CrPC Is Issued: Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court has reiterated that warrants, proclamations, and attachments can be issued against an accused unless there is an interim order of no-coercive measure issued by the court where the anticipatory bail application is filed. If such an interim order is absent and a process under Section 82 ofCrPC is issued, it renders the anticipatory bail application not maintainable.

In this case, the complainant alleged that the appellant and other accused went to his land and in order to dispossess him, the accused persons assaulted him and called him by his caste name. Consequently, a case was registered under Sections 323, 341, 504, 354 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The appellant filed an appeal against the order rejecting his anticipatory bail, during pendency of which a proclamation was issued.

The key issue before the court was whether an anticipatory bail application remains maintainable after a proclamation has been issued under Section 82 of the Cr.P.C. during the pendency of the anticipatory bail application.

Justice Gautam Kumar Chaudhary, presiding over the case, relied on the case of Srikant Upadhyay & Others Versus State of Bihar & Another, Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.7940 of 2023, stating, “mere filing of anticipatory bail petition cannot be a ground for restraining the investigating agency from proceeding against the accused. Warrants, proclamation and attachment can be issued against the accused, unless there is an interim order of no-coercive measure against the appellant issued by the Court where the anticipatory bail application is filed. If there is no such interim order and process under Section 82 is issued, that will render the anticipatory bail not maintainable.”

The Court observed in this case, the criminal appeal against the rejection of anticipatory bail was filed on 28.06.2023, while the order for issuance of proclamation under Section 82 of the CrPC was passed subsequently on 11.08.2023. No interim order restraining coercive measures against the appellant was issued during this period.

Consequently, the Court concluded that the criminal appeal against the order rejecting the anticipatory bail application was rendered not maintainable and dismissed the appeal accordingly.

Case Title: Amar Yadav @ Amar Kumar V. The State of Jharkhand

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Jha) 96

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