New Delhi, February 27- The Supreme Court today said in a landmark judgment that the provision of anticipatory bail is applicable to the Goods and Services Act and the Customs Act. The court said that in the absence of an FIR, persons can approach the courts for bail before arrest.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice Bela M Trivedi had on May 16 last year reserved its verdict on the petitions challenging the incompatibility of the penal provisions in the Customs Act, GST Act with the Criminal Procedure Code CrPC and the Constitution.
While pronouncing the judgment, the Chief Justice said that the provisions of CrPC and subsequent laws, the provisions of the Indian Civil Security Code (INSC), on issues like anticipatory bail will be applicable to persons under the Customs and GST Acts.
It said that persons facing possible arrest under the GST and Customs Acts are entitled to seek anticipatory bail even before an FIR is registered. The detailed decision is awaited. The main petition was filed by Radhika Agarwal in 2018.