Personal liberty is a fundamental right, and arrests should be justified and not arbitrary; anticipatory bail granted under specific conditions.

JUDGMENT :

Siddharth, J.

1. Heard Sri Mohd. Farooq, learned counsel for the applicant; Sri Sunil Kumar Upadhyay, learned counsel for the informant and learned AGA for the State.

2. The instant anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant, Mohd. Rehani Alias Syed Mohd. Hussain, with a prayer to release him on bail in Case Crime No.- 319 of 2023, under Sections- 452, 323, 147, 149, 325, 308 , 506 IPC , Police Station- Phoolpur, District- Prayagraj.

3. Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that only the role of exhortation has been assigned to the applicant. Main offence has been committed by the other accused including co-accused, Gayatri Devi, who has been enlarged on anticipatory bail in CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 14611 of 2023. He has submitted that the offences are punishable below 7 years. There was no apprehension of arrest of the applicant earlier. He has approached this Court after filing of charge-sheet. He has no criminal history to his credit.

4. Learned AGA has opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail of the applicant. He has submitted that in view of the seriousness of the allegations made against the applicant, he is not entitled to grant of anticipatory bail. The apprehension of the applicant is not founded on any material on record. Only on the basis of imaginary fear anticipatory bail cannot be granted.

5. After considering the rival submissions this court finds that there is a case registered/about to be registered against the applicant. It cannot be definitely said when the police may apprehend him. After the lodging of FIR the arrest can be made by the police at will. There is no definite period fixed for the police to arrest an accused against whom an FIR has been lodged. The courts have repeatedly held that arrest should be the last option for the police and it should be restricted to those exceptional cases where arresting the accused is imperative or his custodial interrogation is required. Irrational and indiscriminate arrests are gross violation of human rights. In the case of Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh AIR 1994 SC 1349 the Apex Court has referred to the third report of National Police Commission wherein it is mentioned that arrests by the police in India is one of the chief source of corruption in the police. The report suggested that, by and large, nearly 60 percent of the arrests were either unnecessary or unjustified and that such unjustified police action accounted for 43.2 percent of expenditure of the jails. Personal liberty is a very precious fundamental rights and it should be curtailed only when it becomes imperative. According to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the peculiar case the arrest of an accused should be made.

6. Hence without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case and considering the nature of accusations and antecedents of applicant, he is directed to be enlarged on anticipatory bail as per the Constitution Bench judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Sushila Aggarwal vs. State (NCT of Delhi)- 2020 SCC Online SC 98. The future contingencies regarding anticipatory bail being granted to applicant shall also be taken care of as per the aforesaid judgment of the Apex Court.

7. In the event of arrest, the applicant shall be released on anticipatory bail. Let the applicant involved in the aforesaid crime be released on anticipatory bail till the conclusion of trial on furnishing a personal bond with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court concerned with the following conditions:-

1. The applicant shall not leave the country during the pendency of trial without prior permission from the concerned trial Court.

2. The applicant shall surrender his passport, if any, to the concerned Court forthwith. His passport will remain in custody of the concerned Court.

3. That the applicant shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to an