Patna Law Notes

Anticipatory Bail (Section 438 CrPC)- Meaning, scope, applicability, and historic case laws Anticipatory bail is the power of High Courts and the Courts of Sessions to grant bail to an accused even before he/she is arrested. In a sense, it could be said that the term ‘anticipatory bail’ is not accurate because it is not really a ‘bail’ given to a person already in custody, but an order to release him in the event of his arrest by the police . This provision allows an accused to preempt an arrest that he apprehends in the near future. Anticipatory bail is governed by section 438 of the CrPC . A need was felt for a law of this nature to protect innocent persons from vindictive suits that seek to implicate them in trumped-up charges and ruin their reputation and career. Criminal jurisprudence assumes a person to be innocent till proven otherwise. Consequently, the purpose of an arrest is not to punish the accused but rather to ensure that he does not tamper with evidence, intimidate th...

Sedition Law: An overview of its history and future in India On May 11, 2022, the Supreme Court passed a historic order about the much-debated sedition law (Section 124 A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC); effectively consigning this 150 years old law to a state of abeyance. It further ordered that all trials, proceedings, and appeals pertaining to this law should be kept in a state of suspension. Those already languishing in jails for being booked under section 124 A, may now approach appropriate courts to seek relief. The state, which had initially been defending this law, withdrew its objections and promised that the law would be reconsidered and a new revised version of the law shall be drafted. The court also instructed the central and state governments that till a reconsidered and revised version of the law is brought into being, they must refrain from lodging any new FIRs under the sedition law.        The controversy around sedition law     The contro...