Facts: FIR registered at Ludhiana under offences 420, 406 and 411, IPC, -480 books of “Sachi Sakhi’ alleged to have been printed and published clandestinely by the petitioner was recovered from his business premises at Delhi -State taken the preliminary objection that “FIR has been registered in Ludhiana in the state of Punjab so this Court can only grant interim bail to the petitioner with a direction that he should ‘appear or approach’ the Court concerned or the High Court of Punjab for seeking bail’ Held: “…there is nothing in section 438 Cr. PC which restricts the jurisdiction of the High Court or the Court of session. One need not mix up the jurisdiction relating to cognizance of an offence with that of granting of bails. Bails are against arrest and detention. Therefore, an appropriate Court within whose jurisdiction the arrest takes place or is apprehended or is contemplated will also have jurisdiction to grant bail to the person concerned. If the Court of session or the High Court has the jurisdiction to grant interim bail, then the power to grant full anticipatory bail will emanate from the same jurisdiction. Concurrent jurisdiction in Court situated in different states in not out side the scope of the Cr. P.C it is not possible to divide the jurisdiction under Section 438 Cr. PC in an ad interim and complete, but it is permissible if it is so expedient or desirable, for any of the courts competent to take cognizance of an to try an offence and the courts competent to grant bails to grant anticipatory bail for a specified period only. I, therefore, reject the contention of the State of Punjab with regard to the jurisdiction of this Court. I also don’t see any reason or circumstances why this Court should not grant interim bail in these case and direct the petitioners to approach the Courts in Punjab" |
