Supreme Court cautions high courts, says can't stay arrests on quash plea
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has cautioned the High Courts against passing orders staying the arrest of accused if they can’t quash an FIR even if the allegations cited are not true. At the most, the High Court can grant anticipatory bail while allowing investigation to proceed, the court held.
The bench gave this ruling while setting aside an order of the Hyderabad High Court for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state staying the arrest of accused Habib Abdulla Geelani and two others without quashing the FIR.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy said the High Court should exercise its inherent power in a very sparing manner and this is not to be used to choke or smother the prosecution that is legitimate.
Unethical litigants earn SC ire
The bench said wherever the High Court finds that in a given case if the protection against pre-arrest is not given, it would amount to gross miscarriage of justice and no case, at all, is made for arrest pending trial, the High Court would be free to grant the relief in the nature of anticipatory bail.
In the instant case, the bench noted that the HC has not referred to allegations made in the FIR or what has come out in the investigation. It has noted that the investigation is in progress and it is not appropriate to stay the investigation of the case. It has disposed of the application under Section 482 CrPC and has directed that the investigating agency shall not arrest the accused persons.
The bench said it is absolutely inconceivable for the High Court to pass an order of the present nature while declining to interfere or expressing opinion that it is not appropriate to stay the investigation. The courts should oust unscrupulous litigants from invoking the inherent jurisdiction of the court at the drop of a hat to file an application for quashing of launching an FIR and then seek relief by an interim order.
