Bombay High Court Rules Anticipatory Bail Not Valid After Arrest, Even With Transit Relief The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court recently clarified the legal boundaries of pre-arrest relief, ruling that an anticipatory bail application is not maintainable once an accused has been arrested, regardless of whether transit bail has been granted. The decision, delivered by Justice Rajnish Vyas, centered on a case involving a Nagpur-based individual arrested in Delhi over an FIR registered by Brahmapuri police in Chandrapur. The accused faced serious charges under the Indian Penal Code, the Maharashtra Money-Lending (Regulation) Act, and provisions related to illegal organ transplantation. The court framed its ruling around the central issue of whether an accused who had been arrested, produced before a magistrate, and released on transit bail could still invoke Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or relevant provisions under the Bharatiya Nagarik Sarkar Act (BNSS), 2023. Rejecting the petitioner’s plea, the court emphasized that once an arrest was executed, the legal remedy shifted from anticipatory bail to regular bail. It clarified that pre-arrest protections were no longer applicable after the arrest was completed. The petitioner argued that his arrest was merely a "paper arrest" since transit remand had been denied and he had been granted transit bail. He contended that the possibility of re-arrest justified his request for anticipatory bail. However, the court dismissed this argument, noting that the accused had already submitted to the jurisdiction of the magistrate’s court in Chandrapur. Senior counsel Deven Chauhan, representing the government, argued that the petitioner was in "constructive custody" and had already accepted the jurisdiction of the Chandrapur court.#bombay_high_court #nagpur_bench #rajnish_vyas #brahmapuri_police #chandrapur_court
