The Supreme Court has cautioned that while safeguarding individual liberty remains vital, courts must not “turn a blind eye” to the plight of victims of crime. Emphasizing the need for judicial balance, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta on September 17 set aside a March 2024 order of the Patna High Court that had granted anticipatory bail to two men accused in a murder case.
The apex court expressed “sincere concern” over the haste with which the high court had passed its order, observing that it failed to follow established judicial principles. “While the scheme of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (now Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023) provides concurrent jurisdiction to the high court and sessions court for entertaining applications for anticipatory bail, this Court has time and again observed that the high court should always encourage exhausting an alternative/concurrent remedy before directly interfering itself,” the bench noted.
The justices underscored that such an approach ensures fairness by giving the aggrieved party a chance to seek remedy before the sessions court, while also allowing the high court to later assess the judicial perspective applied at the lower level. The bench criticized the Patna High Court for not recording any reasons for granting anticipatory bail and for failing to implead the complainant in the proceedings.
“While the protection of individual liberty is important, courts must not turn a blind eye to the suffering of the victims. A balance has to be struck to protect the liberty of the accused as well as to secure an environment free from fear in the hearts of victims of the alleged perpetrators,” the bench observed.
Calling anticipatory bail in the present case “totally uncalled for,” the court said the high court had failed to appreciate the gravity of the allegations. The judges pointed out that the murder, in which the complainant’s wife was killed, took place in broad daylight. “We are unable to understand what prompted the high court to grant anticipatory bail to the accused-respondents in such a heinous offence,” the bench remarked.
The top court’s ruling came on an appeal filed by the complainant challenging the Patna High Court’s March 2024 order granting protection from arrest to the accused in connection with an FIR lodged in December 2023. Setting aside the order, the Supreme Court directed the accused to surrender within four weeks and apply for regular bail in accordance with law.
