UP passed bill for anticipatory bail, Uttarakhand to follow: SC told

The Uttar Pradesh government today informed the Supreme Court that the state assembly has approved a bill to re-introduce a provision for anticipatory bail, which was scrapped in the state during the Emergency in 1976.

It said the Code of Criminal Procedure (Uttar Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2018, restoring the provision of anticipatory bail in the state, was passed in the assembly yesterday.

A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao asked Uttarakhand about the status of the bill which was to be passed in compliance of its earlier order.

Deputy Advocate General of Uttarakhand Jatinder Kumar Sethi said the process was on and the legislative department of the state was vetting the proposal.

The bench took the statement on record and posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by lawyer Sanjeev Bhatnagar seeking restoration of the provision of anticipatory bail in Uttar Pradesh, saying its absence was "discriminatory" to the people of the state.

The top court had in 2008 recommended to the UP government to take appropriate steps and bring an ordinance to restore the provision for anticipatory bail in the state.

The state government had in 2010 brought an amendment in the law to include the provision for anticipatory bail.

In 2010, the then Mayawati-led state government had brought amendment to restore the provision of section 438 of the CrPC which deals with anticipatory bail. In August 2010, the state Assembly had passed the bill to restore the provision.

After the passage of Bill by Uttar Pradesh assembly, now Uttarakhand remains the only state in the country which does not have the anticipatory bail provision.