Delhi High Court Calls For Streamlining Of Prosecution Of Bails, Says Higher Police Authorities Unaware Of Ground Level Work

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant anticipatory bail to an accused booked in a case involving allegations of sexual assault, cruelty and domestic violence, while also expressing serious concern over the failure of the Delhi Police to file a status report despite repeated opportunities.Justice Girish Kathpalia said that it is being observed frequently that the status reports in bail matters are either not filed or the same are just handed across the board, which causes unnecessary adjournments. “That is not how liberty of an individual has to be dealt with. It seems that the higher authorities of police are completely unaware about this aspect of working at grassroot levels,” the Court said.The judge was dealing with an anticipatory bail plea filed in the case in 2024. The Court noted that the application had been pending since October 2024 and interim protection from arrest had been continuing on account of the State not filing its response.The Court recorded the anguish expressed by the Additional Public Prosecutor that despite repeated reminders, the investigating officer and the SHO concerned did not provide the status report. It said that it has been repeatedly pointed out that few years ago, the regular practice in bail matters was that the investigating officers used to meet the prosecutor and brief her or him before the court sitting commenced.“In such circumstances, prosecutors used to be fully equipped to oppose or not oppose the bail applications. But now, it is observed that what to say of briefing the prosecutors in advance, the investigators would either not appear or appear without file or would try to brief the prosecutor inside the courtroom even subsequent to commencement of court sitting,” the Court said. Justice Kathpalia said that in the case in hand, the conduct of Delhi Police in not filing status report till date and not sending the investigating officer to assist the court and the prosecutor conveyed that police was “not interested” in opposing this anticipatory bail application. But that disinterest should not be a ground for this Court to ignore the nature of allegations, the Court said. The FIR alleged that the complainant was subjected to physical abuse by her husband and in-laws and was also sexually assaulted by her brother-in-law with the husband's knowledge and support.The Counsel for the accused argued that the dispute was matrimonial in nature and had been settled between the complainant and her husband. However, the counsel for the complainant opposed the bail plea and denied knowledge of any settlement. Observing that the allegations against the accused were “very serious”, the Court said that it was not a fit case to grant anticipatory bail. The Court directed the accused to surrender before the Investigating Officer by 5 PM on March 21. It also directed that a copy of the order be sent to the DCP (Legal Cell) of Delhi Police with the hope that prosecution of bail matters would be streamlined in future.Title: GULAM NABI v. STATE (THROUGH SHO PS KHAJURI KHAS)Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Del) 281Click here to read order

Delhi High Court Calls For Streamlining Of Prosecution Of Bails, Says Higher Police Authorities Unaware Of Ground Level Work

Nupur Thapliyal

Tags