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SC: Detained defendant can apply for provisional release on bail in another criminal case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that an accused who is in custody in one case is entitled to interim release in another case if he is not arrested. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was considering the legal question of whether an accused who is in custody is entitled to interim release in another criminal case.

“An accused is entitled to provisional release unless he is arrested in connection with this offence. In case he is arrested in this case too, the only option is to apply for bail,” said Justice Pardiwala while delivering the verdict.

The judgment was issued on a petition filed by a certain Dhanraj Aswani in 2023, who raised this issue.

“There is no explicit or implicit restriction prohibiting a court or the Supreme Court from granting interim bail to an accused person while he is in custody in connection with another offence. This would be contrary to the intention of the legislature…”, the judgment states.

“Detention in one case does not eliminate the risk of arrest in another case,” it said.

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