Is anticipatory bail possible under 66A,66B or 66D of IT act

546 votes

Section 77B provides that notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the offence punishable with imprisonment of three years and above shall be cognizable and the offence punishable with imprisonment of three years shall be bailable. Thus all the three sections which you have quoted are cognizable and bailable. For the purpose of grant of anticipatory bail, the Court of Session or the High Court must take into consideration the ingredients therefor as laid down in Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. There is no bar in entertaining an application under section 438 of the code of criminal procedure by the Court of Session or High Court even when cognizance is taken or a charge sheet is filed. The object of Section 438 is to prevent undue harassment of the accused persons by pre-trial arrest and detention. The fact, that a court has either taken cognizance of the complaint or the investigating agency has filed a charge sheet, would not by itself, prevent the High court or Court of Session from granting anticipatory bail in appropriate cases. Refer to - Bharat Chaudhary V. State of Bihar: (2003 (3) KLT 956= (2003) 8 SCC 77) Vineeth Somarajan V. State of Kerala: 2009 (3) KLT 576 = 2009 (3) KHC 471, If you need any assistance with that we can guide you. Disclaimer: This article does not constitute legal advice and does not constitute an Attorney-Client relationship between me and reader.

Advocate Robert D Rozario LawRato

764 votes

Please be informed that Anticipatory bail is literally applied for an 'in anticipation of arrest'. You can approach the session Court first, if rejected then before the High Court concern and if again rejected then before our Supreme Court. Please find out first that whether any FIR has been filed and police has already slapped or planning to charge you u/s 66A, 66B or 66D of the IT Act, 2000 or not. If not, then normally the Court may ask you to withdraw your anticipatory bail application for no FIR has been made yet. At this time please ask your Advocate to pray for minimum seven days pre-arrest notice in case the police intend to arrest you. Apart please be clear that it is always discretion of the Court to grant anticipatory bail or not.

Advocate Pradipta Nath LawRato