JUDGMENT :

1. Almost four decades post the deletion of Section 438 Cr.P.C. insofar as it applied to the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Legislature reintroduced that provision on 6 June 2019. The legislative essay was a reaffirmation of the constitutional guarantee of personal liberty accorded to all citizens and to provide a salutory safeguard against the ignominy of arrest and deprivation of liberty. This nascent and resurrected jurisdiction has, however, in a short span of time raised questions which merit an authoritative pronouncement. It is in that backdrop that the Court takes up the instant petition.

2. This petition along with other applications for grant of anticipatory bail were taken up on 4 December 2019. Upon preliminary submissions being advanced, the Court on that date framed the following questions which appeared to principally arise:-

“The present application under Section 438 Cr.P.C. for anticipatory bail has been moved after rejection of a similar application by the Sessions Judge. The issue which would consequently arise would be whether the application would be maintainable since as per the provision, an order once passed shall not be construed as an interlocutory