CASE NAME: SURESH BABU KV v. STATE OF KERALA

On Monday, the Supreme Court decided to look into the question of whether notice and hearing must be given to the victim or complainant in a rape case before granting an accused anticipatory bail. The matter came up in an appeal contesting a Kerala High Court ruling from April 2024 that had revoked the appellant-accused’s anticipatory bail. The High Court recognized in its April ruling that the accused had not impeded the inquiry following the trial court’s granting of bail. However, based only on the complainant-victim’s lack of hearing, the High Court went ahead and revoked the trial court’s anticipatory bail decision.

The accused appealed this to the Supreme Court. Today, a Division Bench consisting of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan stayed the High Court’s ruling and issued notice in the case. Among the charges against the appellant-accused are offenses under Indian Penal Code Section 376(2)(n) (rape). On behalf of the appellant-accused, Senior Advocate R Basant contended that the High Court could not have revoked anticipatory bail based only on the technicality that the trial court had not heard the victim. Considering all the facts, the highest court agreed to look into the matter raised by the accused and stayed the High Court’s ruling.