SC remarks petition seeking relief of pre-arrest bail, not money recovery proceedings

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has remarked that the petitions seeking relief of pre-arrest bail are not money recovery proceedings, while maintaining anticipatory bail to a husband and his relatives and annulling the conditions of depositing money.
A bench of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Bela M Trivedi granted an anticipatory bail plea to the husband and parents-in-law in the matter on furnishing a bond of Rs 25,000. "Even if we take the submissions of the learned counsel for the contesting respondent on its face value, we are clearly of the view that in essence, the petitions seeking relief of pre-arrest bail are not money recovery proceedings and, ordinarily, there is no justification for adopting such a course that for the purpose of being given the concession of pre-arrest bail, the person concerned apprehending arrest has to make payment," the court said.
The petitioners were represented by advocates Amit Kumar, Ali Mushtaq Nawazish, Naeem Ilyas, and Neelam Singh, advocates on record.
Jharkhand High Court had earlier proceeded to grant the concession of pre-arrest bail to the appellants on the condition of their furnishing a bond in the sum of Rs 25,000 and depositing a demand draft in the sum of Rs 7,50,000 as an ad-interim victim compensation.
The petitioners had challenged the condition of depositing Rs 7,50,000 as a condition of bail in the Supreme Court.
The top court noted that the said condition of depositing a sum of Rs.7,50,000 for the purpose of granting the relief of pre-arrest bail could not be approved and else, the order granting bail deserves to be maintained.
The court said, "Hence, we are of the view that no useful purpose would be served by sending the matter for reconsideration to the High Court and the order impugned deserves to be modified appropriately in these appeals only."
"For what has been observed and discussed hereinabove, the order impugned is modified in the manner that while other directions and requirements of the order i.e., of releasing the
appellants on bail in the event of arrest on furnishing bond of Rs. 25,000, shall remain intact but the other part of the order, requiring the appellants to deposit a sum of Rs. 7,50,000, shall stand annulled," the court said.
The petitioner in the matter is facing a complaint case under Sections 498A (Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act. (ANI)