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Rahul Kumar v. The State Of Bihar

Rahul Kumar v. The State Of Bihar

(High Court Of Judicature At Patna)

Criminal Miscellaneous No. 19874 of 2020 | 17-07-2020

Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, J.

1. Learned counsel for the petitioner undertakes to remove the defects, if any, within three weeks after start of normal functioning of the Court.

2. At the outset, Mr. Ansul, learned Advocate while mentioning this matter submits that he has instruction to bring it to the notice of this Court that during the pendency of this application, the petitioner has been arrested.

3. Once he stood arrested so far as this application is concerned, it has become infructuous but the predicament of the petitioner is that his attempt to file a regular bail application could not succeed because of the pendency of this anticipatory bail application.

4. At the Bar, this Court has been informed that in fact the Court below is not entertaining a regular bail application of an accused who has earlier filed an anticipatory bail application and the same is pending before this Court. The accused are told to produce an order showing withdrawal of anticipatory bail application.

5. Mr. Akhileshwar Dayal, learned APP for the State is present and in course of discussion he admits that once an accused is arrested, all proceeding in form of an anticipatory bail stood terminated. In fact, in this regard there is already an order of the learned Coordinate Bench of this Court in Cri. Misc. No. 21360 of 2015. In it's order dated 26.05.2015 the learned Coordinate Bench has recorded as under:

" Learned counsel for the petitioners states that petitioner no. 1-Md. Matin has been arrested during pendency of this application and as such he seeks leave to withdraw this application in so far as petitioner no. 1 is concerned. He states that the lower court is not ready to hear the regular bail application of this petitioner on the ground that anticipatory bail application is pending in the High Court.

I have yet to see a more absurd prayer. Upon arrest of a person all proceedings in relation to anticipatory bail becomes infructuous and no Magistrate could ever make such an observation.

In any view of the matter, in view of the prayer made, the application on behalf of petitioner no. 1-Md. Matin is deemed to be infructuous and disposed of as such."

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that despite there being the aforesaid order of the learned Coordinate Bench of this Court, the same is not being followed by the court below.

7. This Court is of the considered view that if any of the Judicial officer in the court below is not following the said order and observations of the learned Coordinate Bench, they may be held responsible for committing contempt of Court and in a specific case brought to the notice of this Court it may be taken very seriously.

8. During this pandemic period for the aforesaid reason alone if any person lying in jail is suffering, it is not only violation of the constitutional and human rights of an accused but is also a matter of judicial indiscipline.

9. This Court, therefore, directs learned Registrar General of this Court to circulate this order by sending it to all the learned District and Sessions Judges who in turn will be responsible to bring it to the notice of all the judicial officer of their respective court(s).

10. This application is permitted to be withdrawn as prayed.

Advocate List
  • Mr. Ansul, Advocate

  • Mr. Akhileshwar Dayal

Bench
  • HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD
Eq Citations
  • 2023 (1) PLJR 921
  • LQ/PatHC/2020/418
Head Note

**Facts:** - Petitioner seeks anticipatory bail. - During pendency of the application, the petitioner was arrested. - Petitioner could not file a regular bail application due to the pendency of the anticipatory bail application. - The court below refused to entertain a regular bail application citing the pendency of the anticipatory bail application. **Issue:** - Whether once an accused is arrested, does the anticipatory bail application become infructuous? **Held:** - Yes, once an accused is arrested, all proceedings in form of an anticipatory bail stood terminated. - Order of Coordinate Bench in Cri. Misc. No. 21360 of 2015 relied upon. - Courts below directed to follow the order and observations of the Coordinate Bench. **Ratio:** - Arrest of the accused renders anticipatory bail proceedings infructuous. - Refusal to entertain a regular bail application due to pendency of anticipatory bail application is incorrect and may amount to contempt of court. **Direction:** - Registrar General of the High Court to circulate the order to all District and Sessions Judges for dissemination to all judicial officers.