Anticipatory bail should be resorted to only in a special case: High court

The court made this observation on the second anticipatory bail application of a person, who allegedly used forged B Ed marksheet/degree to obtain employment

PRAYAGRAJ: Rejecting the second anticipatory bail application of a person, who allegedly used forged BEd mark-sheet/degree to obtain employment, the Allahabad high court has observed, “Anticipatory bail being an extraordinary remedy, should be resorted to only in a special case”.

Rejecting the anticipatory bail of one Hemant Kumar Saraswat, Justice Samit Gopal took serious note of the charges levelled against the applicant and observed, “By the act of the applicant of seeking appointment on the basis of a forged mark-sheet/degree, one deserving candidate has lost his seat and chance of appointment and it may be a lifelong loss for many reasons like crossing the bracket of prescribed age and many other factors”.

An FIR was lodged against the applicant at Manth police station in Mathura district under Sections 420 (cheating) and other sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), alleging that the applicant was a beneficiary of a forged mark-sheet, which he had allegedly obtained from Agra University, showing him to have qualified the BEd Examination in the academic session 2004-05.

Declining the plea for anticipatory bail, the court observed, “The case prima facie indicates involvement of the applicant in the offence-in-question as he was the beneficiary by making use of the forged mark-sheet/ degree. The applicant has not established any special circumstance. No reason is found to falsely implicate the present applicant”.

The court also rejected the ground of parity raised by the applicant, saying, “In so far as, the orders of the other persons are concerned who have been granted anticipatory bail/interim anticipatory bail, the same are not binding on this court”.

Referring to the rejection of the first anticipatory bail by the high court, the court in its order dated December 21 further said,

“While rejecting the first anticipatory bail application, the court was of the opinion that during investigation, even at times, the custodial interrogation may be necessary to reach the roots of the crime, the same cannot be overlooked. Therefore, looking into the gravity of the offence, nature of offence and the legal position enumerated above, this court is of the view that the anticipatory bail application has no merit and is liable to be rejected”.