The main legal point established is that the offences under Sections 274, 332, 333, and 353 of the Indian Penal Code are non-bailable in the State of Tamil Nadu as per the Central Act 25 of 2005, and the requirement of the President's assent for state amendments to prevail.

The Court Made the following order :

An important question, "In the State of Tamil Nadu, whether an offence punishable under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code is bailable or non-bailable under the First Schedule to The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973?" has arisen for consideration in this Criminal Original Petition.

2. Apprehending arrest at the hands of the respondent -police in Crime No.593 of 2011, on the file of the respondent police for offences under Sections 294(b) and 353 of the Indian Penal Code, the petitioner has come up with this Criminal Original Petition, seeking Anticipatory Bail. According to the petitioner, the offence punishable under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code is non-bailable and, therefore, this Criminal Original Petition is maintainable.

3. During the course of hearing, a doubt arose as to whether the said offence is non-bailable despite the passing of The Indian Penal Code and The Code of Criminal Procedure [Tamil Nadu Amendment] Act, 2006, by the Tamil Nadu Assembly. This doubt, therefore, needs a detailed debate.

4. Prior to the introduction of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 2005 (Central Act 25 of 2005), undoubtedly, an offence punishable under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code was bailable as per the First Schedule to the Code of Criminal Procedure. As per the Central Act 25 of 2005, the First Schedule was amended, by which the offence punishable under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code was classified as non-bailable. Similarly, by the same Amendment, the entries relating to Sections 274, 324, 332 and 333 of IPC were also amended and the said offences were also classified as non-bailable offences. The said Act received the assent of the President of India on 23.06.2005 and the same was published in the Gazette of India on 23.06.2005. As per Section 1 of the Said Act, it shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by Notification in the Official Gazette appoint. Accordingly, the Central Government issued Notification under S.O.No.923(E), dated 21.06.2006, thereby appointing 23.06.2006 as the crucial date for bringing into force the provisions of the Central Act 25 of 2005, except Sections 16, 25, 28(a), 28(b), 38, 42(a), 42 (b), 42(f)(iii) & (iv) and 44(a).

5. Section 42(f) (vii) relates to the amendment in the First Schedule thereby classifying the offence under Section 353 of the Indian Penal Code as non -bailable. As per the above said Notification, the amendments classifying the offences under Sections 274, 332, 333 and 353 have come into force w.e.f. 23.06.2006, and thus, these offences are non-bailable. Section 42(f) (iii) relates to the entry relating to offence punishable under Section 324 of the Indian Penal Code. Since it has not been notified, the offence punishable under Section 324 of the Indian Penal Code remains to be bailable.

6. After the introduction of the Central Act 25 of 2005, various Advocates Associations and the general public of the State of Tamil Nadu made representations to the Government of Tamil Nadu that the Amendments, referred to above, may result in hardship to the clients and general public at large. They further represented to the State Government to restore the earlier position which stood prior to the coming into force of the Central Act 25 of 2005 on 23.06.2006. After having considered the above representations, the Government of Tamil Nadu decided to amend certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Accordingly, in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, a Bill, known as Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill, 2006, was introduced on 02.09.2006. As per Rule 130 of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Rules, the said Bill was also published in the Gazette for general information. Thereafter, the said Bill was passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly as an Act on the same day. By the said Act, the Code of Criminal Procedure, as it stood amended as per the