The Supreme Court has ruled today that all Bail Petitions arising from an FIR shall be placed before the same judge in the High Courts.

Issuing directions to all the High Court, the bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar observed that the directions issued to the High Court of Allahabad in the case of SAJID VERSUS STATE OF U.P. is made effective to all the High Courts in India.

In the case of SAJID VERSUS STATE OF U.P., the Supreme Court has issued the following directions:-

“We have come across various matters from the High Court of Allahabad, wherein matters arising out of the same FIR are placed before different Judges. This leads to anomalous situation. Inasmuch as some of the learned Judges grant bail and some other Judges refuse to grant bail, even when the role attributed to the applicants is almost similar.

We find that it will be appropriate that all the matters pertaining to one FIR are listed before the same Judge so that there is consistency in the orders passed.”

The present bail petition was filed before the Supreme Court against an order of the Rajasthan High Court. Rajasthan High Court granted bail to an accused on 29.08.2023 and when the bail petition of the similarly situated co-accused was listed before the co-ordinate bench, it dismissed the bail plea on 19.10.2023.

Advocate Rishi Matoliya, HD THanvi, Nikhil Kumar Singh, Mahendra Singh Inda appeared for the petitioner.
Case Details:-
SLP (Crl) No. 15585/2023
Rajpal Versus State of Rajasthan