The Supreme Court in the case observed and has expressed its surprise that the Patna High Court reserved judgment on an anticipatory bail plea for a year.
The Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma in the case observed and has stated that this court is extremely surprised as to how the order on the petition seeking anticipatory bail could be kept pending for one year.
The bail application was heard by a single-judge bench of the High Court and was reserved for orders on April 07, 2022.
The court listed the said matter before another bench.
However, the bench released the matter almost after a year, i.e., on April 04, 2023 and the reason was given was that the judge, as a lawyer, had appeared in one of the bail matters arising out of the same information report.
In the present case, the petitioner the anticipatory bail plea in connection with the offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, PMLA. Thus, after the first bench released the matter, another bench heard it and rejected the same on 19.07.2023. the said order rested upon the ground that under section 45 of the PMLA 2002, the petitioner had not made a case for the grant of anticipatory bail.
Therefore, she preferred the present appeal before the Supreme Court.
Further, the expressed reservations in allowing the bail plea. Thus, the same was withdrawn. The Supreme Court in the case observed that the High Court had heard the matter and reserved the same for orders on April 07, 2022 and had released the matter as per the order dated April 04, 2023 i.e., almost after one year. The court while considering the facts and circumstances of the case observed and has directed that the Registrar General of the Patna High Court may get the details of the matter and submit the report before January 08, 2024. Accordingly, the court listed the matter for further consideration on January 08, 2024 solely for the compliance purpose.