KOCHI: At a time when the Supreme Court has expressed disapproval of High Courts directly entertaining applications for anticipatory bail, bypassing the sessions court, statistics reveal that the Kerala High Court has granted a large number of such bails to suspects.
According to a report filed by the amicus curiae before the Supreme Court after collecting data from all High Courts, the Kerala High Court granted anticipatory bail to 3,286 persons between July 1, 2024, and September 1, 2025. While 97 pleas were allowed in part, two pleas were allowed on conditions during the period, the report said.
A total of 9,215 pre-arrest bail applications were filed under Section 482 of the BNSS before the Kerala High Court, of which 7,449 were filed directly without first approaching the sessions court.
As per the report, Kerala ranked second among states, while Odisha topped the list by granting pre-arrest bail to 8,801 persons. In Odisha, 18,340 petitions were filed, of which 17,978 were filed before the High Court at the first instance.
The report also noted that there are no specific circulars, notifications, or practice directions issued by the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court on the administrative side regarding the filing of pre-arrest bail applications directly before the High Court.
The amicus curiae recommended that it would be appropriate for the Supreme Court to lay down guidelines stipulating that a litigant’s best interest would be served by approaching the Court of Sessions first under Section 438 of the CrPC / Section 482 of the BNSS.
“To ensure improved access to justice, we must endeavour to empower the District and Sessions Judiciary, which forms the first point of interface for citizens in the context of anticipatory bail,” the amicus curiae stated.
The report also highlighted the practical benefits of approaching the sessions court first, as these courts are geographically more accessible—particularly for people residing in remote and rural areas—compared to High Courts, which are typically located in state capitals.
Senior Advocate Chitambaresh V, counsel for the Kerala High Court, informed the Supreme Court that around 80% of bail applicants have been approaching the High Court directly. This practice of “hop, skip, and jump”, he argued, ought to be deprecated.
A direct, first-instance invocation of the High Court’s concurrent jurisdiction should be discouraged and permitted only in special or exceptional circumstances, to be judicially assessed and recorded on a case-by-case basis.
Kerala HC anticipatory bail plea statistics
Allowed: 3,286
Allowed in part: 97
Allowed on condition: 2
Dismissed: 601
Dismissed as withdrawn: 355
Closed: 655 (These cases include anticipatory bail applications which are closed on the basis of the instruction that no case has been registered against the petitioner or that the petitioner is not arrayed as an accused or that the petitioner is out of India, etc.)
Disposed of: 1,987 (These cases include anticipatory bail applications which are disposed of with a direction to surrender before the Jurisdictional Magistrate and to apply for regular bail, interim orders made absolute, etc.)
