Supreme Court: No time frame for pre-arrest

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that grant of pre-arrest or anticipatory bail to an accused apprehending arrest should not “invariable” be saddled with any time frame as it refused to interfere with the scheme under the Code Criminal Procedure as framed by the parliament.

“This court holds that the protection granted to a    person under Section 438 CrPC should not invariably be limited to a fixed period. It should inure in favour of the accused without any restriction on time,” said a five-judge Constitution Bench of the top court. Having held that no time limit could be attached to the grant of anticipatory bail, the Bench in its conclusion said, “Normal conditions under   Section 437 (3) read with Section 438 (2) should be imposed. If there are specific facts or features in regard to any offence, it is open for the court to impose any appropriate condition (including fixed nature of relief, or its be8ing tied to a event.”

“The specter of arbitrary and heavy-handed arrests: too often, to harass and humiliate citizens, and oftentimes, at the interest of powerful individuals (and not to further any meaningful investigation into offences) led to the enactment of Section 438”,  Justice Bhat said in his separate but concurring judgment.