Bail Once Granted Cannot be Cancelled by Mere Asking: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court held that bail once granted cannot be cancelled just for asking as in the absence of any such power being vested in the higher Courts either under Section 483(3) of BNSS, 2023 or any other provision of BNSS, 2023 and no such power being carved out in the POCSO Act as well.

A complaint was registered by the Petitioner (mother of victim girl) for the offence of rape, kidnapping of a minor girl, in which bail was granted to the accused. A petition was filed seeking cancellation of bail.

The Bench of Justice V. Srishananda observed, "In the absence of any such power being vested in the higher Courts either under Section 483(3) of BNSS, 2023 or any other provision of BNSS, 2023 and no such power being carved out in the POCSO Act as well, this Court is of the considered opinion that bail once granted cannot be cancelled just for asking."

Advocate Sanjay A. Patil represented the Petitioner, the Advocates Arati Patil and Ashok B. Mulage represented the Respondents.

Case Brief

The Petitioner sought cancellation of bail of the accused on various grounds and contended that petition is maintainable having regard to the fact that cancellation of bail is permissible either before the Court, which granted bail or before this Court having regard to the concurrent power vested by the statue.

However, the State contended that the order of granting bail is a discretionary order and in the absence of any compelling circumstances, bail once granted cannot be cancelled.

Court's Analysis

The Court opined that as a general rule, application seeking cancellation of the bail is to be filed before the Court, which granted bail, inasmuch as, it is that Court which is exclusive knowledge of facts for grant of bail or rejection.

The Bench observed, "Section 483(3) of BNSS, 2023 is retained in verbatim of Section 439(2) of Cr.P.C. If at all the legislature is of the opinion that even in case of a discretionary order, if no proper discretion is exercised by a Court, then such orders could also be subject matter of either revision or appeal, necessarily the legislature would have carved out such power in the higher Courts namely, the High Court as against the Sessions Court or the Special Court."

The Court further added that if there is a grave and serious error that has been committed by the Court while granting the bail, same can be questioned under the supervisory power under Article 227 of the Constitution of India and by invoking inherent power of this Court under Section 482 of Cr.P.C.

The Court held that the Petition is not maintainable.

Accordingly, the Petition was dismissed.

Cause Title: Devibhai V. The State of Karnataka (Neutral Citation: 2025:KHC-K:3332)

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