SC bench to hear if litigant should first approach sessions court for anticipatory bail
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred to a three-judge bench the issue whether it is the "choice of the party" to move high courts for anticipatory bail or was it mandatory for litigants to first approach a sessions court.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said the matter be posted for hearing as and when the three-judge bench is constituted.
"This matter requires to be heard by a three-judge bench," the bench said.
The apex court had earlier appointed senior advocate Siddharth Luthra as an amicus curiae for assistance in the matter.
The top court on September 8 had taken note of the Kerala High Court's "regular practice" of entertaining anticipatory bail applications directly without the litigant moving the sessions court.
"One issue which in bothering us is, in the Kerala High Court there seems to be a regular practice that the high court entertains the anticipatory bail applications directly without the litigant approaching the sessions court. Why is that so?" the bench had asked.
It had said there was a hierarchy provided in the erstwhile Code of Criminal Procedure and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
Section 482 of the BNSS deals with direction for grant of bail to person apprehending arrest.
"It doesn't happen in any other state. Only in the Kerala High Court, we have noticed that regularly applications (for anticipatory bail) are being directly entertained," the bench had observed.
The top court's observation came while hearing a plea by two men challenging a Kerala High Court order rejecting their plea for anticipatory bail.
The bench noted in the case, the petitioners directly moved the high court for the relief without first going to the sessions court.
The high court was observed to have entertained such applications directly without the applicant approaching the sessions court that might result in proper facts not being placed on record which otherwise would have come before the sessions court.
"We are inclined to consider this aspect and decide the issue as to whether the option to approach the high court would be at the choice of the party or it should be mandatory that the accused should first approach the sessions court," the bench added.
It had issued notice on this aspect to the Kerala High Court, through its registrar general.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
