Sarabjit Singh vs State of Punjab

S.S. Sudhalkar, J.

Heard learned Advocate for the petitioner and the learned A.A.G. for the State of Punjab.

The learned A.A.G. states that no case is registered against the petitioners. The learned counsel for the petitioners states that petitioners alleged mala fide against the D.S.P. and so the case is likely to be registered against them. He has shown to me the judgment of the learned single Judge of this Court in Criminal Misc. 16875M of 1994 in which the prayer to give the petitioner a notice in writing if case is registered against him was granted. However, from the judgment it is not possible to know the circumstances in the case which led to the grant of such prayer and whether the granting of such prayer was question in issue in that case.

However, when mala fides are alleged in this case and when the petitioners'' advocate during his arguments has narrowed down the scope of his application to any case that will be registered against the petitioners with regard to the sale of property bearing No. 135C, Model Town, Phagwara and Plot No. 223, situated at Hoshiarpur Road, Phagwara under the powers given to petitioner No. 1 by PowerofAttorney of Jaswinder Singh and Jit Kaur, I find that granting of anticipatory bail with the conditions mentioned herein will serve the purpose and also protect the interest of the prosecution and investigation. I also find it proper to clarify that granting of anticipatory bail does not take away the power of the concerned Judicial Magistrate/Judge to grant police remand. This may also also be treated as a condition. It may be treated as a clarification. It has been held in the case of Sombhai Chaturbhai Patel v. State of Gujarat, 18 Gujarat Law Reporter 131 that the power of granting anticipatory bail cannot be allowed to be invoked in order to defeat, thwart, stall or render impotent, the provisions relating to remand of police custody for the purposes of facilitating investigation.

Hon''ble Mr. M.P. Thakkar, J., in his judgment observed as under :

"It may, therefore, be specified in the order that the accused is to be released on anticipatory bail provided he is not required to be remanded to police custody and that if he is so required the police officer would be at liberty to obtain suitable orders from the Court in that behalf either before the arrest or within a reasonable time of the arrest".

In view of this position, in addition to the clarification that this order shall not debar the Magistrate to the grant of remand, it is also imposed as a condition.

It is ordered that if the petitioners Sarabjit Singh and Sukhwinder Kaur are arrested in connection with the sale of property 135C, Model Town, Phagwara and Plot No. 223, situated at Hoshiarpur Road, Phagwara, on the authority given to petitioner No. 1 by Powerof Attorney executed by Jaswinder Singh and Jit Kaur, they be released on bail on their furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 10,000/ each with one surety each for the like amount.

This order shall not in any way come in the way of granting police remand if the concerned Magistrate thinks it fit to grant the same.

This order shall remain in force for the period of 90 days.

The petitioner may approach this Court again if he is not arrested during this period.