A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Arun Mishra on January 29, 2020 ruled that the protection of anticipatory or pre-arrest bail cannot be limited to any time frame or “fixed period”.
The bench also said that denial of bail amounts to deprivation of the fundamental right to personal liberty in a free and democratic country.
The Bench acknowledged that anticipatory bail helps thwart influential powers from implicating their rivals in false cases.
About Anticipatory Bail
- Section 438 (anticipatory bail) of the Code of Criminal Procedure protects people from the ignominy of detention in jail for days on end and disgrace to their reputation.
- The old CrPC of 1898 did not contain any specific provision of anticipatory bail.
- Anticipatory bail became part of the new CrPC in 1973 (when the latter replaced the older Code of 1898), after the 41st Law Commission Report of 1969 recommended the inclusion of the provision.
- Clause 448 of Draft Bill of 1970 was enacted with some modifications and became Section 438 of the CrPC, 1973.
- In the 1980 Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia vs State of Punjab case, a five-judge Supreme Court bench led by then Chief Justice Y V Chandrachud ruled that S. 438 (1) is to be interpreted in the light of Article 21 of the Constitution (protection of life and personal liberty).
