Criminal Justice – Non-bailable warrant cannot be issued in a route manner
On 23.12.2019, the complaint was filed against two officers of National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property, Lucknow, for attacking the complainant and threatening to kill him. FIR was registered for offences under Sections 323, 504 and 506 of IPC.
On 4.2.2020, the charge-sheet was filed with addition of offences under Sections 308, 325 and 120B of IPC and impleading the Manager Singh as an accused.
On 10.2.2020, the order taking cognizance and issuing summons was passed.
On 18.2.2021, the application for exemption from personal appearance was moved on behalf of Bachhan Singh and Mahendra Kumar. Manager Singh was absent and bailable warrant was issued for appearance on 4.3.2021.
On 4.3.2021, the application for exemption from personal appearance was filed. It was rejected on the ground that Manager Singh had not obtained bail till then and there is no provision for exemption from personal appearance prior to obtaining bail. Therefore, non-bailable warrant was issued against him.
The petition to quash the criminal proceedings under Section 482 of Cr PC was dismissed by the High Court on 16.3.2021. On 3.9.2021, the High Court granted further time of 10 days to surrender but Manager Singh did not surrender and filed another application for extension of time to surrender.
The Supreme Court quashed the non-bailable warrants and held that non-bailable warrant cannot be issued in a routine manner and that the liberty of an individual cannot be curtailed unless necessitated by the larger interest of public and the State. While there are no comprehensive set of guidelines for the issuance of non-bailable warrants, this Court has observed on several occasions that non-bailable warrants should not be issued, unless the accused is charged with a heinous crime and is likely to evade the process of law or tamper / destroy evidence.
Judgment dated 1.5.2024 in Criminal Appeal No. ….of 2024 (arising out of Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No.1074 of 2017) of Arif Ahmed and Another Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Another with connected matters.
