Rama Kant Singh v. State of Bihar - Anticipatory Bail - Murder Case - Title Suit Pendency
Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 438 ; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 - Section 482 - Anticipatory bail may be granted by the Court even in a case of murder provided the Court is convinced that the accused persons praying for anticipatory bail have been falsely implicated due to some personal vendetta, political rivalry etc. The accused praying for anticipatory bail has to make out more than a prima facie case of false implication. Grant of anticipatory bail is not a matter of course. (Para 13) Just because a title suit is pending between the parties by itself could not have been a ground to believe that the accused persons have been falsely implicated.(Para 15) The principles governing grant of anticipatory bail differ to a considerable extent from the principles governing grant of regular bail. (Para 24) In this case, the first informant was an eye-witness to the incident, SC held:He may be the son of the deceased but that by itself is not sufficient to disbelieve what he has alleged in the FIR more particularly when the investigation is going on. (Para 14) [Context: Supreme Court set aside anticipatory bail granted to a murder accused]
Case Info
Case name:Rama Kant Singh v. State of Bihar & Ors.
Coram:Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.B. PardiwalaHon’ble Mr. Justice K.V. Viswanathan
Judgment date:11 February 2026
Case laws and citations referred:No prior case law or precedent is cited in the text of this order. The only numbers given are case numbers (Criminal Appeal No. 829/2026; SLP (Crl.) No. 837/2026; Criminal Misc. Application No. 30622/2025; Bishanpur P.S. Case No. 14/2025).
Statutes / laws referred:
- Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023:
- Section 126(2)
- Section 115(2)
- Section 118(1)
- Section 109
- Section 352
- Section 351(2)
- Section 3(5)
- Section 103(1) (noted as corresponding to erstwhile IPC Section 302 – murder)
- Indian Penal Code (IPC): Section 302 (referred to as “erstwhile Section 302 of the IPC”)
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Section 438(2) (anticipatory bail conditions)
- Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita: Section 482(2) (analogous anticipatory bail provision referred to by the High Court)
Brief summary (three sentences):The son of the deceased challenged before the Supreme Court an order of the Patna High Court granting anticipatory bail to two accused in a case where his father later died from multiple head injuries allegedly inflicted by them and others. The Supreme Court held that anticipatory bail principles differ from regular bail, emphasized the seriousness of the murder charge, the specific eye‑witness allegations, and the criminal antecedents of the respondents, and found that the High Court had committed an egregious error in granting anticipatory bail. The Court therefore allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court’s order, directed the two accused to surrender within one week and be remanded to judicial custody, while clarifying that any future regular bail application must be decided independently on its own merits.