The Supreme Court gave pre-arrest bail to Punjab officer Gursewak Singh in a 2021 corruption case, criticizing the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s handling of his plea as “cryptic and unusual.” The bench said the officer’s non-arrest for four years itself justified bail.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has granted anticipatory bail to a Punjab government officer, Gursewak Singh, in a corruption case that was registered back in 2021. The apex court also expressed strong disapproval of the way the Punjab and Haryana High Court had dealt with his bail plea.
Singh had approached the high court earlier this year, in 2025, seeking anticipatory bail in connection with the graft case.
However, the high court dismissed his request in an unusual manner, even though a co-accused, who was alleged to have actually received the bribe amount, had already been given bail.
On September 3, a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Sandeep Mehta observed that the high court’s approach was highly irregular.
The bench pointed out that while hearing Singh’s plea, the high court shifted focus to questioning the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) about why the chargesheet had not been filed yet and why Singh had not been arrested in the last four years.
Calling out the order, the Supreme Court said it was
“very cryptic and unusual order.”
The bench added,
“We do not approve the manner in which the High Court has dealt with the plea of anticipatory bail.”
The bench went on to remark,
“Either the High Court should have allowed the application granting anticipatory bail or should have declined it on its own merits. Surprisingly, the High Court proceeded to grant anticipatory bail to a co-accused who is alleged to have actually accepted the bribe amount.”
Justice Pardiwala, who authored the judgment, also raised a crucial question. He said,
“Why should the high court, while considering the anticipatory bail, ask the probe agency why it didn’t arrest the accused for the last four years.”
The Supreme Court further explained that,
“The fact that the petitioner was not arrested for four years by itself was a good ground for the High Court to exercise its discretion and order grant of anticipatory bail.”
Since the case was still pending before the high court, the apex court noted that it would not wait for the final outcome there. Instead, exercising its own discretion, the top court ruled in Singh’s favour.
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It directed that if the officer is arrested, he should be released on bail, but this will be “subject to the terms and conditions” set by the investigating officer of the Economic Offence Branch, Ludhiana, Punjab.
With this ruling, the Supreme Court has not only granted relief to the Punjab officer but also made it clear that high courts must deal with anticipatory bail pleas in a proper judicial manner, without diverting to unrelated issues or issuing unclear directions.
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