IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE R.BASANT WEDNESDAY, THE 23RD JANUARY 2008 / 3RD MAGHA 1929 Bail Appl..No. 503 of 2008() ---------------------------- CRIME NO. 362/03 OF PAYYANNUR POLICE STATION PETITIONER/ACCUSED NO.5 ---------------------------------------- BHASKARAN, S/O.KUNHIKANNAN, RAMANTHALI, KANNUR. BY ADV. SRI.SOJAN MICHEAL RESPONDENTS: COMPLAINANT ------------------------ THE STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM. BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SRI. JAI GEORGE THIS BAIL APPLICATION HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 23/01/2008, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING: R. BASANT, J. ------------------------------------------------- B.A. No. 503 OF 2008 ------------------------------------------------- Dated this the 23rd day of January, 2008 ORDER Application for anticipatory bail. The petitioner faces indictment in a prosecution for offences punishable, inter alia, under Secs.323 and 427 read with Sec.149 of the IPC. The petitioner is the 5th accused. Final report has already been filed. Cognizance has been taken by the learned Magistrate. The co-accused were already tried, found not guilty and acquitted. All offences alleged are bailable. The petitioner could not appear before the learned Magistrate and participate in the trial. The case against him has been split up. Reckoning him as an absconding accused, coercive processes have been issued against the petitioner. The petitioner apprehends imminent arrest. 2. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that B.A. No. 503 OF 2008 -: 2 :- the petitioner is absolutely innocent. His absence earlier was not wilful or deliberate. The petitioner, in these circumstances, wants to surrender before the learned Magistrate and seek regular bail. The petitioner apprehends that his application for regular bail may not be considered by the learned Magistrate on merits, in accordance with law and expeditiously. It is, in these circumstances, that the petitioner has come to this Court for a direction to the learned Magistrate to release him on bail when he appears before the learned Magistrate. 3. It is for the petitioner to appear before the learned Magistrate and explain to the learned Magistrate the circumstances under which he could not earlier appear before the learned Magistrate. I have no reason to assume that the learned Magistrate would not consider the petitioner's application for regular bail on merits in accordance with law and expeditiously. No special or specific directions appear to be necessary. Every court must do the same. Sufficient general directions on this aspect have already been issued in the decision reported in Alice George v. Deputy Superintendent of Police (2003 (1) KLT 339). 4. In the result, this bail application is dismissed; but with the observation that if the petitioner surrenders before the B.A. No. 503 OF 2008 -: 3 :- learned Magistrate and seeks bail, after giving sufficient prior notice to the Prosecutor in charge of the case, the learned Magistrate must proceed to pass appropriate orders on merits and expeditiously – on the date of surrender itself. Sd/- (R. BASANT, JUDGE) Nan/ //true copy// P.S. to Judge