RAMJI Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners filed Crl. Misc. No. 41125-M of 2000 seeking anticipatory bail in case F.I.R. No. 223 dated 7.10.2000 registered at Police Station, Division No. 5, Ludhiana under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B with a direction that if petitioners surrender before the trial Court on or before 15.11.2000 at 10.00 A.M., the said Court will dispose of the bail application that may be filed by them together with any request for remand that may be made by the police as expeditiously as possible preferably on the same date.

(2.) THE petitioners did not comply with the above order because according to them the offence under Section 467 IPC is punishable with life imprisonment and as such the trial Court, which in this case would be the Court of Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, would not be empowered to grant bail in view of the provisions of Section 437 Cr.P.C. and had instead on 30.11.2000 filed Crl. Misc. No. 41711 of 2000 seeking modification of the order dated 9.11.2000 on the ground that the petitioners in fact would not be entitled to avail the limited relief given by this Court while disposing of Crl. Misc. No. 41125-M of 2000.

(3.) THE issue which is raised in the present case is that though the offences punishable with imprisonment for life are triable by the Court of Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, the difficulty which is being faced by the Courts, according to the counsel for the petitioners, arises out of the interpretation that they are placing on the provisions of Section 437 Cr.P.C. which spells out the power of Court other than the High Court or the Court of Sessions to admit a person accused of committing non-bailable offence on bail. The relevant portion of Section 437 Cr.P.C. reads as under :