In Brief
A Supreme Court bench of five judges considered whether anticipatory bail (pre-arrest bail) under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code should be limited to a fixed period and whether it ends when charges are framed. The court held that anticipatory bail should not invariably be time-limited and can continue till the end of trial, subject to the court's discretion to impose conditions in specific cases. The bench overruled restrictive interpretations from cases like Salauddin Abdulsamad Shaikh which mandated time-bounded orders, and reaffirmed the wider discretion recognised in Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia to preserve personal liberty while ensuring fair investigation.
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