In Brief
The Supreme Court examined conflicting judicial precedents on whether anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code should be limited in time or continue indefinitely until trial's end. Two lines of cases diverged: some following Sibbia's Constitution Bench view that bail should continue till trial, others following Salauddin holding that bail must be time-limited and expire when the accused seeks regular bail. The Court found that even Sibbia did not explicitly hold anticipatory bail is granted "forever." Given the conflicting authorities and their legal significance, the Court declined to settle the issue itself and referred the questions to a larger bench for authoritative resolution.
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