SUBRATA ROY SAHARAversusPRAMOD KUMAR SAINI & ORS.

122                      [2022]REPORTS
               SUPREME COURT    7 S.C.R. 122                [2022] 7 S.C.R.


A                          SUBRATA ROY SAHARA
                                        v.
                      PRAMOD KUMAR SAINI & ORS.
                     (Criminal Appeal Nos. 955-956 of 2022)
B                                JULY 14, 2022
          [A. M. KHANWILKAR AND J. B. PARDIWALA, JJ.]
             Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: s. 438 – Anticipatory bail
      – Application under – Scope of – Held: Is limited to the cause of the
      concerned applicant, applying for grant of anticipatory bail in
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      connection with offence already registered against him and
      apprehending his arrest in connection with such a case – Inquiry
      must be limited to the facts relevant and applicable to the concerned
      applicant who has come before the Court – No attempt should be
      made to inquire into matters pertaining to some third party much
D     less beyond the scope of the complaint/FIR – High Court should
      exercise circumspection in dealing with the application only in respect
      of matters which are relevant to decide the application and not to
      over-state facts or other matters unrelated to the applicant before
      the Court – In the instant case, the order passed by the High Court
      keeping the application for anticipatory bail pending and issuing
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      notice to third parties to appear before the Court, is impermissible
      – High Court exceeded its jurisdiction – Such a plea, if accepted,
      is fraught with the danger of allowing Sessions Court/High Court
      to transcend beyond the scope of application u/s. 438 – Thus, it
      was not open to the High Court in exercise of powers u/s. 438 to
F     add third parties to the proceedings, who are neither necessary nor
      proper parties to the application.
            CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
      Nos. 955-956 of 2022.
             From the Judgment and Orders dated 11.02.2022 and 27.04.2022
G     of the High Court of Judicature at Patna in Criminal Miscellaneous No.
      8063 of 2021.
            Kapil Sibal, Sr. Advs., Gautam Awasthi, Ayush Choudhary, Nizam
      Pasha, Gautam Talukdar, Devanshu Yadav, Sameer Pandey, Rahul
      Tripathi, Ram Sajan Yadav, Vijay Kumar, Advs. for the Appellant.
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                                       122
SUBRATA ROY SAHARA v. PRAMOD KUMAR SAINI & ORS.                                123


     K. V. Vishwanathan, Sr. Adv., Manish Kumar, Nitesh Bhandari,              A
Prabhat Kumar Rai, Shourajeet Chakravarty, Ms. Aprajita Bhardwaj,
Naveen Kumar, Ramesh Babu M. R., Ms. Manisha Singh, Ms. Nisha
Sharma, Advs. for the Respondents.
      The following Order of the Court was passed:
                               ORDER                                           B

      1. Leave granted.
      2. These appeals take exception to the judgment and orders dated
11.02.2022 and 27.04.2022 passed by the High Court of Judicature at
Patna in CRLM No. 8063/2021.                                                   C
       3. By these orders, the High Court while entertaining the application
for grant of anticipatory bail filed by one Pramod Kumar Saini and other
co-accused named in Complaint Case No. 1761 of 2016 went on to
inquire into matters unrelated to the facts relevant for deciding the
anticipatory bail application.                                                 D
      4. This Court vide order dated 13.05.2022, whilst issuing notice,
observed thus: -
             “Permission to file special leave petition(s) is granted.
            It is urged that the private complaint filed by one Naresh
      Kumar Das, being Complaint Case No.1761/2016, is against                 E
      accused persons named therein. The petitioner has not been named
      as an accused.
             Further, the impugned order has been passed against the
      petitioner on an application for anticipatory bail filed by Pramod
      Kumar Saini, who has been named as accused no.4.                         F

             Issue notice, returnable on 19.05.2022.
             Dasti, in addition, is permitted.
             Stay of operation of the impugned judgment and order qua
      the petitioner herein.                                                   G
             We are informed that pursuant to the impugned order, the
      High Court has issued further orders today, i.e. 13.05.2022, which
      has the effect of directing the concerned authority in Patna (police)
      to produce the petitioner before the Court.
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124             SUPREME COURT REPORTS                            [2022] 7 S.C.R.


A                 In terms of this order, we stay the operation of the direction
            given by the High Court qua the petitioner till 2 the next date of
            hearing.
                  All concerned to act on this order forthwith until further
            hearing of this matter.”
B            5. Needless to observe that the application under Section 438 of
      the Code of Criminal Procedure is limited to the cause of the concerned
      applicant, applying for grant of anticipatory bail in connection with offence
      already registered against him and apprehending his arrest in connection
      with such a case for extraneous reasons or otherwise. In such
C     proceedings, the inquiry must be limited to the facts relevant and
      applicable to the concerned applicant who has come before the Court.
      No attempt should be made to inquire into matters pertaining to some
      third party much less beyond the scope of the complaint/FIR in question.
            6. Even if the application is entertained by the High Court, the
      High Court should exercise circumspection in dealing with the application
D     only in respect of matters which are relevant to decide the application
      and not to over-state facts or other matters unrelated to the applicant
      before the Court.
             7. In the present case, we have noticed that the High Court kept
      the application for grant of anticipatory bail pending and issued directions,
E     including to issue notice to third parties to appear before the Court. That,
      in our opinion, is impermissible and cannot be countenanced.
            8. The High Court has clearly exceeded its jurisdiction in that
      regard.
             9. Accordingly, all the observations or notings made by the High
F     Court in respect of matters unrelated to the case of the applicant before
      the High Court must stand effaced from the record, in law. The same
      cannot be looked at or relied upon in some other proceedings against the
      third parties.
             10. Learned counsel for the State was at pains to persuade us
G     that since the High Court is taking a broader view of the matter and
      wants to inquire into certain aspects, it was open to the High Court to do
      so.
            11. We do not agree with this submission at all.
            12. Such a plea, if accepted, is fraught with the danger of allowing
H     Sessions Court/High Court to transcend beyond the scope of application
SUBRATA ROY SAHARA v. PRAMOD KUMAR SAINI & ORS.                                 125


under Section 438 Cr.P.C. and the matters relevant to be decided by the         A
Court.
       13. We hold that it is not open to the High Court in exercise of
powers under Section 438 Cr.P.C. to add third parties to the proceedings,
as if it is invoking powers under Order 1 Rule 10 of Code of Civil
Procedure much less those parties who are neither necessary nor proper          B
parties to the application under consideration.
      14. Accordingly, we set aside the impugned judgment and order.
However, we clarify that we are not expressing any opinion either way
on the correctness of the observations made by the High Court in the
impugned judgment and order with regard to matters unrelated to the             C
applicant before the High Court. The State is free to take recourse to
such remedy as may be permissible in law in regard to stated matters.
        15. The appeals are disposed of in the above terms.
        16. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
                                                                                D

Nidhi Jain                                               Appeals disposed of.




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