No timeframe for anticipatory bail: HC

Chennai, July 18 (UNI) Madras High Court today held that an order of anticipatory bail should not be limited to a particular period of time.

The full bench, comprising Mr Justices R Balasubramanyam, S K Krishnan and R Raghupathy, passed the order on a matter referred to it by the Chief Justice, through an administrative order on June 26, 2007.

The full bench was appointed to hear a case in which two persons, Sudhakaran and Palani Kumar, approached the Madurai bench of Madras High Court to get anticipatory bail. A single judge had granted anticipatory bail, but only for a limited period.

The Madurai Bar had argued before the single judge that if the court decided to grant anticipatory bail, it should do so without limiting the period.

The single judge had pointed out the conflict in the Supreme Court judgement on whether the court had the power to grant anticipatory bail for a limited period or not. He had asked the Registry to present the papers before the Chief Justice. The matter was first referred to a Division Bench and later to the full Bench.

The full bench observed that the Supreme Court held conflicting views on the matter and pointed out the Apex Court observation that as per the law of precedence, if a High Court faced conflicting views, it should follow the opinion expressed by the larger Bench.

It also referred to the Constitutional Bench judgement in the case of one Gurupaksh Singh, in which it was held that the operation of the order should not be limited to a particular period of time.

UNI