Supreme Court: Sets Aside Condition As Unreasonable; HC Asks Husband To Pay Wife Rs 10 Lakhs For Anticipatory Bail In Dowry Harassment Case

The Supreme Court in the case Ravikant Srivastava @ Ravi Kant Shrivastava v. State of Jharkhand & Anr observed and has recently set aside a decision of the Jharkhand High Court for imposing a precondition for anticipatory bail that the accused would have to deposit a Demand Draft of Rs. 10 lakhs as ad interim victim compensation in favour of the accused wife. The said appeal would arise out of a dowry harassment case in which the complainant had instituted a criminal complaint against her husband before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, latterly which was converted into a first information report, for offences under Section 498A and other ancillary provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 reading with Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.
In the present case, the court observed that by an impugned order, the High Court had exercised its inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and has directed the appellant-husband to pay the complainant ‘victim compensation’ as an interim measure. The Division bench while allowing the appeal preferred by the accused, held that there was “no reasonable justification” for the High Court to incorporate such a condition while granting the husband pre-arrest bail.
The bench comprising of Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice C.T. Ravikumar observed and has held that after hearing the counsels appearing for the parties that this court finds no reasonable justification for the High Court to call upon the appellant to submit a demand draft of Rs.10 lakhs for availing the benefit of pre-arrest bail.
Accordingly, the bench allowed the appeal and has set aside the order passed by the High Court directing the appellant to deposit a Demand Draft of Rs. 10 Lakhs.