Filing Anticipatory Bail When Application For Regular Bail Is Pending Is A Classic Example Of Forum Shopping And Misuse Of Court’s Process: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court held that fling an application of anticipatory bail when another application of regular bail is pending is a classic example of forum shopping which cannot be permitted. The Court while dismissing anticipatory bail application, noted that filing multiple applications before various forums is a misuse of the process of the Court.

Justice Krishan Pahal held, “Filing of an anticipatory bail application, while there being a regular bail application pending, is misuse of process of Court. The applicant is used to filing multiple applications and petitions at various forums including the High Court. These acts are a classic example of forum shopping and it cannot be permitted to keep on going so eternally”.

Advocate Ravi Pandey appeared for the Accused/Applicant and Additional General Advocate Pranshu Kumar appeared for the State.

The Applicant/Accused filed an application seeking anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Per the prosecution, the Applicant was the supervisor in the company and had allegedly usurped the money of several people who had made deposits in the company’s policy bond. The Applicant contended that he was not named in the FIR and had since cooperated with the investigation.

The Court noted that while a regular bail application is pending, the filing of an anticipatory bail is misusing the process of the Court. The Court observed that the Applicant filling multiple applications in different forums is an example of forum shopping which cannot be permitted.

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Application.

Cause Title: Banti Sharma Alias Brahm Prakash Sharma v State Of U.P. And Another (2023:AHC:209396)

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