THE KERALA HIGH COURT SAYS AGAIN THAT MAGISTRATE CANNOT IMPOSE CONDITION TO DEPOSIT CASH SECURITY WHILE GRANTING BAIL

Bench – THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V

Case Title – RAJESH V STATE OF KERALA

Case No – CRL.MC NO.  3385 OF 2023

Date – 30/05/2023

FACTS – 

1. The petitioners are accused Nos. 1 and 2 in Crime No. 1103/2022 of the Vadakkancherry Police Station.
2. They are accused of offences punishable under Sections 406 and 420 r/w Section 34 of the IPC.
3. The final report was not filed within the statutory period, so the petitioners applied for statutory bail.
4. The learned magistrate granted statutory bail but imposed a condition that the accused must deposit a sum of Rs. 50,000/- as cash security for appearance.
5. The learned magistrate justified this condition by relying on the judgments in Sumit Mehta v. State [2013 (2) KLD 677] and Lekha v. State [2019 (3) KLJ 825].
6. The learned counsel for the petitioners argued that the judgments relied on by the magistrate relate to anticipatory bail and are not applicable to the present case.
7. The counsel cited the Supreme Court’s judgement in Saravanan v. State [2020 (9) SCC 101], which states that no cash security can be imposed while granting default bail.

JUDGEMENT – 

1. The court considered the submissions and reviewed the records.
2. The court referred to the Supreme Court’s judgement in Saravanan v. State, which clarifies that no condition of depositing the alleged amount involved can be imposed while granting default bail under Section 167(2) of the Cr.P.C.
3. The court held that the judgments relied on by the magistrate were not applicable to the present case.
4. The court set aside Condition No. 2 in Annexure-1 order (which required the cash security deposit) and allowed the petition.
5. All other conditions imposed by the magistrate remained unchanged.

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WRITTEN BY – ANVITHA RAO