The short question which is of general importance is, whether the power of the High Court or Sessions Court to grant anticipatory bail under Section 438 Cr.P.C. comes to an end after the Magistrate has taken cognizance of non-bailable offence and issue process, namely, warrant for arrest against the accused ?

2. The probe into the question referred above would incidentally give rise to several subsidiary questions also as given below :-

(1) What is the meaning of Anticipatory bail ?

(2) What is the scope of Section 438 Cr.P.C. ?

(3) What is the period of duration of anticipatory bail ?

(4) What is the stage at which Section 438, Cr.P.C. could be invoked ?

(5) What is meant by the accusation ?

(6) What is the meaning of the word "arrest"?

(7) By whom arrest could be effected ?

3. Before dealing with these questions, let us, at the outset, refer Section 438 Cr.P.C

"438. Direction for grant of bail to person apprehending arrest. - (1) When any person has reason to believe that he may he arrested on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence, he may apply to the High Court or the Court of Session for a direction under this section; and that Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that in the event of such arrest, he shall be released on bail

(2) When the High Court or the Court of Session makes a direction under sub-section (1), it may include such conditions in such directions in the light of the facts of the particular case, as it may think fit, including -

(i) to (iii)

(iv) such other condition as may be imposed under sub-section (3) of Section 437; as if the bail were granted under that section

(3) If such person is there after arrested without warrant by an officer in-charge of a police station on such accusation, and is prepared either at the time of arrest or at any time while in the custody of such officer to give bail, he shall be released on bail; and if a Magistrate taking cognizance of such offence decides that a warrant should be issued in the first instance against that person, he shall issue a bailable warrant in conformity with the direction of the Court under sub-section (1)." *

4. In Section 438(1) Cr.P.C. there are two essential requirements, viz., (1) reason to believe that a person may be arrested; (2) such an arrest is on an accusation of having committed a non-bailable offence. Only when these requirements are fulfilled, the High Court or the Sessions Court could entertain the application for anticipatory bail and then consider the facts and circumstances of the case, in order to find out whether it is a fit case for anticipatory bail

5. The petitioner must show that he has reason to believe that he may be arrested for a non-bailable offence. The use of the expression "reason to believe" shows that the apprehension of the petitioner that he may be so arrested must be founded on reasonable on grounds. Mere 'fear' is not 'belief'. It is not merely enough for the petitioner to show that he has some sort of a vague apprehension that some one is going to make an accusation against him, in pursuance of which he may be arrested

6. The grounds on which the belief of the petitioner is based that he may be arrested for a non-bailable offence, must be capable of being examined by the Court objectively, because only then, the high Court or the Court of Session can determine whether the petitioner has reason to believe that he may be so arrested

7. A belief can be said to be founded on reasonable grounds only if there is something tangible on the basis of which, it can be said that that the petitioner's apprehension that he may be arrested is genuine

8. The specific events and facts must be disclosed in the affidavit with the petition filed by the the petitioner in order to enable the Court to Judge the reasonableness of his belief for the exercise of the power conferred by the section

9. Therefore, the Court which grants anticipatory bail must take care to specify the non-bailable offence or offences in respect of wh