Under special circumstances, one can directly approach HC for anticipatory bail: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that under special circumstances, a person apprehending arrest can move a high court directly seeking anticipatory bail without approaching a sessions court first.

A five-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday ruled that it is not mandatory that while filling an anticipatory bail under Section 438 of CrPC, an applicant must approach the sessions court first and on rejection of the plea move to the high court.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and justices Ramesh Sinha, Sunita Agarwal, Yashwant Verma and Rahul Chaturvedi observed,"Section 438 CrPC on its plain terms does not mandate or require a party to first approach the sessions court before applying to the high court for grant of anticipatory bail."
The single judge had referred the matter to the larger bench asking, "Whether the Court would have no jurisdiction to reject the anticipatory bail after considering the grounds of compelling reasons mentioned in the affidavit being found not appealing, which would amount nothing but to approach this Court directly."
The larger bench was of the view, "We would consequently answer the reference by holding that the decision in Vinod Kumar does not merit any reconsideration or explanation. As rightly held in that decision, there can be no exhaustive or general exposition of circumstances in which an applicant may be held entitled to approach the high court directly."