New Delhi:The Supreme Court has imposed costs of Rs 2 lakh, on a petitioner, who twice withdrew his anticipatory bail application in the high court before moving before the apex court, and directed the Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, to arrest him within three days.
The matter came up before a bench comprising Justices J K Maheshwari and Aravind Kumar. The bench, in an order passed on January 22, said: "We are unaware whether the Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, has filed any affidavit as directed by the High Court on December 11, 2024. But it is a fact that even after the rejection of the first bail application and the second bail application, the petitioner has not been taken into custody. Thereby, petitioner intends to take undue advantage of procedural law for reasons best known”.
The apex court dismissed a special leave petition filed by one Parteek Arora with a cost of Rs 2 Lakh, and directed it should be deposited by the petitioner with the Punjab State Legal Services Authority and proof thereof be filed within one week.
"We direct the Commissioner of Police, Amritsar, to arrest the petitioner within three days and to file an affidavit before the Registry of this Court on the fourth day. On filing of such affidavit, matter be placed for orders before the Bench on 29th January, 2025," said the bench, in its order.
The apex court noted that on September 30, 2024, after sensing that the high court was not keen to grant him anticipatory bail, the petitioner withdrew his application. Later, the petitioner filed another plea before the high court, in which the high court took a stringent view. The high court had noted that the FIR in the present case was registered on June 25, 2023, and thereafter for more than 1 year, no action was taken against the accused.
"This Court was not inclined to grant the concession of anticipatory bail to the petitioner and the same was withdrawn on 30.09.2024. Now a period of almost 03 months has elapsed but no steps have been taken by the police either to arrest the accused or to declare him a proclaimed offender. This clearly shows that the officials of the local police have colluded with the accused in the present case," said the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, in an order passed on December 11, 2024, while listing the matter on December 19, 2024. When the matter was listed, the petitioner withdrew the application.
The apex court noted that petitioner’s counsel vehemently argued that impugned order has been passed without affording an opportunity to the petitioner by the high court on the second application for anticipatory bail.
“In view of the foregoing, we are satisfied that this is one of such case in which the petitioner wishes to circumvent the procedural law. Even after registration of a criminal case and refusal of anticipatory bail twice by the High Court, petitioner has not surrendered”, said the apex court.
“When the High Court was not inclined to grant anticipatory bail, the petitioner opted to withdraw his petition. Thereafter, when on application being filed in the said disposed of case, direction came to be issued by calling upon the police authorities to file the status report. Thereafter, the present special leave petition has been filed”, added the apex court, in its order.
