M.Katju - (1.) THIS is an application under Section 482, Cr. P.C., pertaining to case No. 45 of 1994 under Sections 420, 467, 468, 469, I.P.C. of Police Station Pheelkhana district Kanpur Nagar. The only prayer that has been made by the learned counsel for the applicants is that the bail application of the applicants may be considered on the same day on which it is moved and if it is not decided on that date the applicants should be released on furnishing personal bond fixing a date and on that date the bail application may be disposed off in accordance with law.
(2.) I have heard Shri A. D. Giri, Senior Advocate and Shri Vinod Prasad for the applicants and Shri Kesari Nath Tripathi, Senior Advocate and Shri Dinesh Chandra Srivastava for the complainant and also the learned Government counsel. Shri Tripathi has urged that an application under Section 482. Cr. P.C., should not be entertained solely for the purposes of giving a direction that the application for bail shall be disposed of on the same day by the court below. I am not in agreement with this contention. After deletion of the provision for anticipatory bail in Uttar Pradesh great hardship is being felt by the litigants who have been falsely implicated in criminal cases. Such persons have now to apply for bail before the Magistrates or Sessions Judge and it is well known that the Magistrates very often do not consider the bail application on the same day and they postpone the hearing of the bail application for some other date and the meantime the accused has to go the jail even if ultimately he is found to be innocent This is indeed a sad state of affairs because a man who has self respect and reputation should not be readily sent to jail, without even being convicted It need hardly be mentioned that under our system of criminal Justice a person is presumed to be innocent unless found guilty. The reputation of a person may be irreparably tarnished if he is sent to jail, even if he is ultimately acquitted. As Lord Krishna says in the Geeta. "For a self respecting man. death is preferable to dishonour." In Civil Law it is well-settled that goodwill is an untenable asset. I am of the opinion that the same principle must also be accepted in criminal law particularly since Article 21 of the Constitution of India (whose scope has been greatly widened by the Supreme Court since Maneka Gandhi's case, AIR 1978 SC. 597 places great emphasis on personal liberty. A man's self respect has great value for him in society. Hence there is no reason why the bail application should not be considered on the same day and if he can make out a case for bail then he should be released forthwith instead of being sent to jail. There does not exist any exceptional ground or justification fori not having a provision for anticipatory bail in Uttar Pradesh. This State can hardly be called a terrorist affected State like some other States. In fact, the law and order situation in U. P. is better than that in many other States which continue to have a provision of anticipatory bail. Moreover, the deletion of the provision for anticipatory bail in U. P. has resulted in increasing the burden on the court because thousands of applications under Section 482, Cr. P.C., or under Article 226 of the Constitution of India are being filed merely to get an order for considering and disposing of the bail application on the same day. All these are an extra unnecessary burden on this Court and the whole difficulty has been created by deleting the provisions for anticipatory bail. Hence.I respectfully recommend to the State Government to consider the desirability of initiating; a suitable amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code as early as possible either by way of an Ordinance or a bill to restore the provision of anticipatory bail in the Criminal Procedure Code for the State of U. P. On the facts and circumstances of the present case I direct that in case the applicants surrender and submit an application for bail in case crime No. 45 of 1994 under Sections 420, 467, 468. 469,I.P.C., P. S. Pheelkhana district Kanpur Nagar before the court below, the same may be disposed of on the same day. If it is not possible to dispose of the bail application on the same day, the court below shall release the applicants on furnishing personal bond, fixing date. On that date he would dispose of the bail application on merits and in accordance with law. I am clarifying that the Court deciding the bail application should decide it on its merits, in accordance with law without being affected by the observation made above.
(3.) WITH these observations the application is finally disposed of. Let a copy of this order be sent forthwith to the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow and the Law Secretary, U. P. Govt. for necessary action. Application finally disposed of.;