Do High Courts & Sessions Courts Have Concurrent Powers to Grant Anticipatory Bail? Supreme Court says yes

The Supreme Court has clarified that both the High Court and the Sessions Court hold concurrent jurisdiction to grant anticipatory bail under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and that it is not a rule that an accused must first approach the Sessions Court before moving the High Court.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and N.V. Anjaria was hearing appeals filed by Manjeet Singh challenging the July 28, 2025 order of the Allahabad High Court, which had refused to entertain his anticipatory bail applications and directed him to approach the Sessions Court instead.

Singh, facing criminal proceedings in Uttar Pradesh, had directly approached High Court for relief, arguing that he was entitled to do so in view of the concurrent jurisdiction recognised under law.

Setting aside the High Court’s order, the bench observed that it had failed to consider this concurrent jurisdiction while dealing with the pleas.

Referring to its earlier rulings in Kanumuri Raghurama Krishnam Raju v. State of A.P. (2021) and Arvind Kejriwal v. Directorate of Enforcement (2024), the Top Court reiterated that “it would not be necessary for an accused to approach the Sessions Court in the first instance, as a rule, before approaching the High Court.”

The court also noted that a 5-judge larger bench of the High Court had previously held that it is for the concerned judge to determine whether “special circumstances do exist in a particular case warranting the jurisdiction of the High Court being invoked directly,” and that such an assessment must be made on a case-to-case basis.

“In the light of the aforestated legal position, the High Court ought to have applied its mind to determine as to whether the cases on hand warranted exercise of jurisdiction by it in the first instance without relegating the accused to the Sessions Court. As the High Court failed to undertake such exercise, we are constrained to set aside the impugned orders and remit the matters to the High Court for consideration of the bail applications afresh on facts and in accordance with law,” the bench said.

The Top Court directed the High Court to complete this exercise “as expeditiously as possible, considering the fact that this is the second round.”

Case Title: Manjeet Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh

Date of Judgment: August 7, 2025

Bench: Justices Sanjay Kumar and N.V. Anjaria