Ranchi: Jharkhand High Court has ruled that an accused must be in judicial custody to seek regular bail, clarifying that remaining on interim bail without complying with court or investigating agency directions cannot be treated as custody. Court observed that such conduct amounts to misuse of legal process.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi made these observations while rejecting regular bail plea of Chhattisgarh-based liquor trader Naveen Kedia. Court held that requirement of custody or surrender before court is mandatory for consideration of regular bail.
According to High Court, Kedia was arrested from Goa on January 7, 2026, and was granted four days of interim bail by a Goa court on January 9, 2026. Interim bail order clearly directed him to surrender before ACB court in Ranchi by January 12, 2026, after which he was to be taken into police custody.
However, court noted that accused neither surrendered before ACB nor physically appeared before any court in Jharkhand to file bail application. Instead, he sought permission to appear through video conferencing. Request was rejected under Jharkhand High Court Video Conferencing Rules, 2025, which mandate physical presence of accused during first appearance.
Referring to multiple Supreme Court judgments, High Court reiterated that bail under Section 430 of CrPC, now Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, can be granted only when accused is in custody or has surrendered before court. Court concluded that interim bail without compliance of surrender conditions does not place accused in judicial custody.
