The Allahabad High Court rejected the prayer to grant anticipatory bail in the case where the F.I.R. is not filed, but the Applicant has apprehension of his arrest by the police at any time. A single judge bench of this Court comprising of Hon’ble Justice Nalin Kumar Srivastava reiterated that registration of a case and filing of F.I.R. is not a condition precedent to exercise a power under Section 438(1) Cr. P.C.
Brief Facts:
The present Anticipatory Bail Application was filed with the prayer to grant anticipatory bail to the Applicant - Javed Ahmad in Case Crime No. Nil, under Sections Nil, Police Station - Mariyahun, District Jaunpur.
Contentions of the Applicant:
The learned counsel for the Applicant submitted that the opposite party no.2 had given Rs.17,50,000/- to the Applicant as financial help for the construction of his house, as they were friends, and subsequently, Rs.1 lakh on respective dates were paid by the Applicant to him. However, on 5.1.2023, opposite party no.2 asked for repayment of the total outstanding money and abused and threatened him to repay the same by 20.1.2023 otherwise he could be implicated in a false and fabricated case.
The Applicant informed the incident to the S.P., Jaunpur on 7.1.2023 through registered post, and to date, he has already paid an amount of Rs.3,20,000/- to opposite party no.2 in his bank account on respective dates, but the Applicant has apprehension of his arrest by the police any time after lodging of the F.I.R. against him. There is every likelihood that the Applicant may be implicated after foisting the false case against him. It was further submitted that the Applicant has no criminal antecedents.
Observations of the Court:
Firstly, this Court refers to the case of Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia Vs. State of Punjab, (1980) 2 SCC 565 in which the Apex Court held that filing of first information report (F.I.R.) is not a condition precedent to exercise the power under Section 438(1) Cr. P.C. However, when a person apprehends arrest and approaches a court for anticipatory bail, his apprehension (of arrest) must be based on concrete facts (and not vague or general allegations) relatable to a specific offence or particular offences. This requirement was emphasized in the case of Adri Dharan Das Vs. State of West Bengal, (2005) 4 SCC 303. Therefore, in view of this Court, the current legal position is that Section 438 (1) of Cr.P.C. applies not only at the post-FIR stage, but it also does not require that the offence must have been registered.
Applying the aforesaid legal theory to the facts and circumstances of the case in hand, the Court finds that the apprehension of arrest on the part of the Applicant is not well founded. The Applicant has failed to explain how he has a reasonable belief of being arrested by the police. In such a scenario, the law does not permit knocking at the door of the Court to grant anticipatory bail on merely vague assertions in the absence of any relevant material, and certainly, the Court will not grant anticipatory bail in such a case.
The decision of the Court:
The Allahabad High Court, rejecting the bail application, held that the law does not permit knocking at the door of the Court to grant anticipatory bail on merely vague assertions in the absence of any relevant material.
Case Title: Javed Ahmad vs State of U.P. and another
Coram: Hon’ble Justice Nalin Kumar Srivastava
Case no.: CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 1379 of 2023
Advocate for the Applicant: Mr. Anurag Kumar
Advocate for the Respondent: G.A.
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