The Supreme Court has disapproved of the practise followed by the Courts to direct deposit of amount as a condition for granting anticipatory bail for the offence of cheating under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. A bench comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Datta termed this a “disquieting trend” which results in cheating cases being unwittingly converted into process for recovery of money(Ramesh Kumar v State NCT of Delhi).
The Apex Court reminded the High Courts and Sessions Courts not to be swayed by such considerations put forth by the counsels on behalf of the accused while moving an application under section 438, CrPC.