SC frowns upon practice of trial courts remanding accused, moment they appear in response to summons

The Supreme Court has frowned upon the practice of the trial courts remanding accused persons to custody the moment they appear pursuant to the summons being issued.

A Bench comprising Justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mittal noted that the said practice was prevalent in some parts of the country. Its correctness has to be observed in an appropriate case, the Bench observed.

"In some parts of the country, there seems to be a practice followed by Courts to remand the accused to custody, the moment they appear in response to the summoning order. The correctness of such a practice has to be tested in an appropriate case," the Bench said.

The observation was made in a case granting anticipatory bail to four persons accused of forgery.

The Supreme Court noted that though the complaint was lodged in 2019, none of the accused were ever taken into custody. All the accused joined the investigation and cooperated with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI on its part filed the final report on December 31 2021 after the completion of the investigation.

The CBI before the High Court had only sought for the presence of the accused and not their arrest during trial.

The Special Court issued summons for the appearance of the accused on March 7 2022.

Apprehending arrests, the accused moved a petition seeking anticipatory bail. The same was rejected by the Special Court and the order was confirmed by the High Court.

Following this, the accused went up to the Supreme Court in appeal.

The Supreme Court took note of the fact that the accused were apprehending arrest not at the behest of the CBI, but at the behest of the trial court.

"The appellants apprehend arrest, not at the behest of the CBI but at the behest of the Trial Court. Suffice for the 5 present to note that it is not the CBI which is seeking their custody, but the appellants apprehend that they may be remanded to custody by the Trial Court and this is why they seek protection. We must keep this in mind while deciding the fate of these appeals," the Supreme Court said.

While granting anticipatory bail to the accused, the Supreme Court disposed of the petition.

"Appellants are entitled to be released on bail, in the event of the Court choosing to remand them to custody, when they appear in response to the summoning order ... subject to such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the special court, including the condition for the surrender of the passport, if any," the Bench said.