SC asserts HCs’ power to protect from arrest

High courts are empowered to protect an accused from arrest for a certain period of time even if it rejects the anticipatory bail plea, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, while underscoring that bail provisions must be liberally construed by the courts to take into account myriad situations. In the wake of two orders by the Allahabad high court, granting 90 days to two accused to surrender, the top court was called upon to remove the ambiguity in law as to whether a high court was authorised to protect an accused from arrest for some time even though it did not grant pre-arrest bail. The bench, which included justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, laid down that a high court could pass such protective orders under Section 482 of the CrPC, which recognised the HC’s inherent power to pass directions in the interest of justice. “Even when the court is not inclined to grant anticipatory bail to an accused, there may be circumstances where the high court is of the opinion that it is necessary to protect the person apprehending arrest for some time.,” it held.