Kollu Ravindra Ravi vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh
2023 Latest Caselaw 11 AP

Citation : 2023 Latest Caselaw 11 AP
Judgement Date : 2 January, 2023

Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati

Kollu Ravindra Ravi vs The State Of Andhra Pradesh on 2 January, 2023

           HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO

              CRIMINAL PETITION No.10094 of 2022

ORDER:

The petitioner is accused No.4 in Crime No.192 of

2020 on Robertsonpet Police Station, for the offences under

Sections 302, 109 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code.

2. The petitioner was initially arrested and

subsequently released on bail by order dated 24.08.2020 in

Criminal Miscellaneous Petition 108 of 2020 in Crime No.192

of 2020 by the Sessions Judge, Krishna Division,

Machilipatnam.

3. The order granting bail was subject to 13

conditions set out in the said order itself. Condition No.5

required the petitioner to hand over his passport to the

investigating officer till the conclusion of the trial. Condition

No.12 required the petitioner to appear for each and every

adjournment during the enquiry/trial and failure to attend

would result in cancellation of the bail automatically.

4. The petitioner had subsequently moved

Crl.M.P.No.188 of 2022 for relaxation of condition No.5 and

for return of his passport on the ground that the passport of

the petitioner cannot be retained by the police as such

retention would amount to impounding of the passport. This

application was dismissed by the Sessions Judge on

23.09.2022. The Sessions Judge after noticing the judgment

of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Suresh Nanda v/s Central

Bureau of Investigation1 had held that relaxation of

condition No.5 could result in non compliance of condition

No.12 and it would be difficult for the prosecution to secure

the presence of the petitioner at the time of the trail.

5. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Suresh Nanda v/s

CBI at para No.14 had observed as under:

"In our opinion, even the Court cannot impound a passport. Though, no doubt, Section 104 of Cr.P.C., states that the Court may, if it thinks fit, impound any document or thing produced before it, in our opinion, this provision will only enable the Court to impound any document or thing other than a passport. This is because impounding a passport is provided for in Section 10 (3) of the Passports Act. The Passports Act is a special law while the Cr.P.C., is a general law. It is well settled that the special prevails over the general law vide G.P.Singh's Principles of Statutory Interpretation (9th Edition pg.133). This principle is expressed in the maximum Generalia specialibus non derogant. Hence, impounding of a passport

AIR 2008 SC 1414

cannot be done by the Court under Section 103 Cr.P.C., though it can impound any other document or thing."

6. In the present case, it cannot strictly be said that

the passport of the petitioner has been impounded. However

the practical effect of deposit of the passport with the

investigating officer would amount to impounding of the

passport.

7. The finding of the Sessions Judge that return of

passport could result in violation of condition No.12 of the

bail order may not be correct. These two conditions are

independent of each other and non-compliance of condition

No.12 would automatically result in cancellation of the bail

itself.

8. In view of the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme