Bail Cannot Be Cancelled Merely Because Offence Is Grave; No Appeal Over Co-ordinate Bench: Rajasthan High Court

In November 2021 police at Barloot, Sirohi, allegedly intercepted two men carrying 141 kg of poppy straw, and the respondent, then the SHO, is accused of letting them go for Rs 10 lakh and making false diary entries (paras 2, 7). A co-ordinate Bench granted her bail on 20.07.2022, noting that the offence alleged against her under Section 221 IPC carried up to three years (para 5). The State applied under Section 439(2) CrPC to cancel the bail, arguing that the NDPS offences and the gravity of the charge had not been considered (para 2). She replied that she is a woman and that almost four years had passed (para 3).

Relying on Abhimanyu v. State of Kerala, the Court noted that cancelling bail for misconduct differs from setting aside a perverse or illegal bail order, and listed the usual grounds, such as misuse of liberty, tampering with evidence, influencing witnesses or absconding (para 8). Following Gurcharan Singh, cancellation is a harsh step needing strong and cogent evidence, and bail cannot be cancelled mechanically or merely because the offence is serious (para 9). Dataram Singh and Abdul Basit show that the grounds are post-bail events (para 11). Here the State's only ground was that the gravity of the charge had not been considered, which was an attack on the earlier order itself, and this Court does not sit as an appellate court over a co-ordinate Bench (para 12). The Court also noted that Section 437(1) CrPC allows special consideration for women, citing Kalvakuntla Kavitha (paras 13-14). It said the State should have taken proper legal advice before filing (para 15).