No Bar on Granting Anticipatory Bail if Substantive Offence Not Found to be Committed: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has clarified that the statutory bar on pre-arrest bail under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act does not apply if a court, after preliminary examination, finds that the substantive offense is not made out.

Justice Gopinath ruled on an anticipatory bail plea where the alleged rape was found to be consensual, negating the grounds for invoking the stringent provisions of the Act.

The court also noted that Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act applies only to offenses punishable with ten or more years’ imprisonment, and since other alleged offenses did not meet this threshold, anticipatory bail was granted.