Kerala High Court
Philip Jacob vs State Of Kerala on 8 December, 2023
Author: P.V.Kunhikrishnan
Bench: P.V.Kunhikrishnan
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN
FRIDAY, THE 8TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2023 / 17TH AGRAHAYANA, 1945
CRL.MC NO. 10597 OF 2023
AGAINST THE ORDER/JUDGMENT CC 1256/2018 OF JUDICIAL FIRST CLASS
MAGISTRATE COURT, TRIPUNITHURA
PETITIONER(S)/ACCUSED:
PHILIP JACOB
AGED 49 YEARS
S/O THOMAS CHACKO, AUXILIUM HOUSE, JANATHA ROAD, PALA
P.O, KOTTAYAM, PIN - 686575
BY ADV J.ABHILASH
RESPONDENT(S):
STATE OF KERALA
REPRESENTED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,HIGH COURT OF KERALA,
PIN - 682031
BY ADV.SMT. SREEJA V., PP
THIS CRIMINAL MISC. CASE HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
08.12.2023, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING:
Crl.M.C.No.10597 of 2023
2
P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN, J.
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Crl.M.C.No.10597 of 2023
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Dated this the 08th day of December, 2023
ORDER
This Criminal Miscellaneous Case is filed under
Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
("the Code" for the sake of brevity).
2. Petitioner is the accused in
C.C.No.1256/2018 on the file of the Judicial First
Class Magistrate Court, Thripunithura. The above
case is a prosecution initiated against the petitioner
alleging offences punishable under Section 138 of
the Negotiable Instruments Act. A warrant is
pending against the petitioner.
3. The petitioner submits that the petitioner
is ready to surrender before the jurisdictional court.
But the petitioner apprehends that, if he surrender
before the jurisdictional court, jurisdictional court
may remand him without considering his bail
application.
4. The Public Prosecutor submitted that no such
apprehension is necessary and this court may not
pass any direction to the lower court to release the
petitioner on bail and that is a matter to be decided
by the trial court.
5. This court in Vineeth Somarajan @
Ambadi v. State of Kerala and another (2009
(3) KHC 471) relied on the dictum laid down by
another learned Single Judge in Biju S. Praveen v.
State of Kerala and Another (2007 (2) KLT
280) considered this point. It will be better to
extract the relevant portion of Vineeth
Somarajan's case (supra).
"14. The apprehension of the petitioner is that if he
appears before the Trial Court, he would be remanded to
judicial custody. In Biju v. State of Kerala, 2007 KHC 3436 :
2007 (2) KLT 280 : 2007 (1) KLJ 713 : ILR 2007 (2) Ker.
26 : 2007 (1) KLD 486, Justice A. K. Basheer, after noticing
the practice that is being followed by some learned
Magistrates (vide paragraph 16) held at paragraph 18 thus:
'18. As mentioned earlier, Criminal Courts
should always be careful while passing orders on
bail applications which in effect deal with personal
liberty. In cases where the Court decides to send an
accused to custody pending trial, it must be
ensured that the Court applies its mind judicially
and judiciously with particular reference to the facts
and circumstances of the case. The mere fact that
the accused had failed to respond to a summons or
that the Court had to issue non bailable warrant to
compel his presence will not ipso facto empower
the Criminal Court to remand the accused to
custody as a punitive measure when he appears
before the Court on his own volition or is produced
in execution of the warrant. The bail application
that may be moved on his behalf has to be
considered and orders should be passed on the
same day itself since personal liberty of an accused
cannot be curtailed in a whimsical or disdainful
manner.' I am in respectful agreement with the
dictum laid down in Biju v. State of Kerala."
6. In the light of the above dictum laid down by
this court, I think the apprehension of the petitioner
that the jurisdictional court will remand the accused
without application of mind is unnecessary.
Therefore, this Criminal Miscellaneous Case is
disposed of with the following directions:
1) The petitioner shall surrender before the
jurisdictional court within three weeks from today. If
an application for bail with advance copy to the
prosecutor concerned is filed at the time of
surrender by the petitioner, the jurisdictional court
shall consider the same and pass appropriate orders
in accordance with law, ideally on the date of
surrender itself.
2) In order to enable the petitioner to appear
before the court below, coercive proceedings
pending against the petitioner shall be kept in
abeyance for a period of three weeks.
Sd/-
P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN
DM JUDGE
