29/04/2026
When to file “𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗮𝗶𝗹“…. Do read the caption !!
OM PRAKASH CHHAWNIKA @ OM
PRAKASH CHABNIKA versus State of Jharkhand Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 16221/2025
The most quotable part of the ruling is also its doctrinal core: “Police has no power to arrest the accused in a complaint case unless there is a non bailable warrant issued by that Court along with the summons.” This statement draws a clean constitutional and procedural boundary. It means that in complaint cases, appearance is secured first through process of court, not by executive force. The accused’s obligation is to appear and join the proceedings, not to surrender in anticipation of a police action that the law itself does not permit.
The Court went further and criticized the routine filing and entertaining of anticipatory bail applications in such cases. It observed that once the court has taken cognizance and issued summons, the accused should ordinarily appear before that court. The Bench noted with concern that unnecessary anticipatory bail litigation was being encouraged in certain States, causing litigants to travel up the judicial ladder all the way to the Supreme Court over a legally misplaced apprehension of arrest. In that sense, the judgment is both a case-specific order and an institutional correction.