Anticipatory bail is an extraordinary remedy, granted only in exceptional circumstances, especially when prior criminal conduct or suppression of facts is evident.

O R D E R

Dated this the 22^nd day of October, 2024

The application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023, for an order of pre-arrest bail.

2. The petitioners are the accused 1 to 5 in Crime No.984/2024 of the Mannarkkad Police Station, Palakkad, which is registered against four accused persons for allegedly committing the offences punishable under Sections 329 (4), 126(2), 115(2), 118(1) r/w Section 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (‘the BNS’ for short), 2023.

3. The crux of the prosecution case is that: on 27.08.2024, the accused, in prosecution of the common intention, had trespassed into the house of the defacto complainant and attacked the defacto complanant, her son and husband with dangerous weapons and caused serious injuries to them. Thus, the accused have committed the above offences.

4. When the application came up for consideration on 07.10.2024, this Court directed the petitioners to surrender before the Investigating Officer and subject themselves to interrogation, and in the event of their arrest, the Investigating Officer to enlarge them on interim bail for a period of two weeks.

5. Heard; Sri.Vivek.P.K., the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and C.S.Hrtithwik, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondents.

6. The learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that pursuant to the order dated 07.10.2024, the accused 4 and 5/petitioners 4 and 5 surrendered before the Investigating Officer and the interrogation was completed. However, the petitioners 1 to 3 did not surrender before the Investigating Officer, since they are involved in two other crimes. They have already filed application before this Court for an order of pre-arrest bail. Therefore, this application may be adjourned so that it can be considered with the connected cases.

7. The learned Public Prosecutor seriously opposed the application. He submitted that the petitioners 1 to 3 have suppressed material facts that there are other connected crimes registered against them. However, he did not dispute the fact that the petitioners 4 and 5 already surrendered before the Investigating Officer and their interrogation has been completed.

8. The prosecution allegation is that, the accused had trespassed into the house of the defacto complainant and assaulted the defacto complainant, her son and husband with dangerous weapons and they suffered serious injuries. Prima facie, on an appreciation of the treatment records of the injured, I find the allegations made against the petitioners 1 to 3 are probable. However, that is a matter to be investigated and decided after trial.

9. On a perusal of the bail application, it can be gathered that the petitioners 1 to 3 have not revealed the fact that there are other cases registered against them, which is imperative in view of the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Kusha Duruka v. State of Odisha [2024 KHC 389]. Therefore, the application is bad for suppression of material facts. Furthermore, I find that there are specific overt acts attributed against the petitioners 1 to 3.

10. In Srikant Upadhyay v. State of Bihar [2024 KHC OnLine 6137] the Honourable Supreme Court, after referring to all the earlier decisions on the point, has observed in the following lines:

“8. It is thus obvious from the catena of decisions dealing with bail that even while clarifying that arrest should be the last option and it should be restricted to cases where arrest is imperative in the facts and circumstances of a case, the consistent view is that the grant of anticipatory bail shall be restricted to exceptional circumstances. In other words, the position is that the power to grant anticipatory bail under S.438, CrPC is an exceptional power and should be exercised only in exceptional cases and not as a matter of course. Its object is to ensure that a person should not be harassed or humiliated in order to satisfy the grudge or personal vendetta of the complainant. (