Bail and Anticipatory Bail Lawyer in Mumbai

Bail and Anticipatory Bail both fall within the domain of Criminal Law. Therefore in order to search for lawyers in bail and anticipatory bail matters, it is best to approach lawyers who specialize in Criminal side and practice in the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Courts and the Dindoshi or Bombay Sessions Court. A Civil Court lawyer may not be able to do justice to the matter but there are many lawyers who practice in both the areas. Lawyers having practice in the Criminal Appellate Side of the Bombay High Court may also be approached for Bail and Anticipatory Bail matters.
Anticipatory Bail Application (ABA) is applied for when someone has grounds to believe that he may be arrested by Police within a short span of time. If an FIR or a Non-Cognizable Complaint has been registered by the Police, Anticipatory Bail may be moved. Anticipatory bail application shall be made before the session court of respective jurisdiction. Once the anticipatory bail application is moved before the Hon’ble Session Court than a copy of the same shall be given to the public prosecutor, one copy of bail application for the office record and one copy of the bail application should be delivered or submitted before the respective police station where the F.I.R is registered along with the covering letter of the advocate on record mentioning that the applicant/org. accused has applied for anticipatory bail and the same is kept on particular date before the respective court room number and the clerk or the person handing over the bail application to the concerned police station shall take acknowledgement on the photo copy of the bail application along with the signature of the person receiving it and it should also bear date and time of receiving the bail application. If on the next date of hearing of the bail application, if the Investigating officer of the concerned police station furnish his say or opinion on that particular matter than the matter is kept for final argument on the next hearing date.
However till the entire anticipatory bail application is disposed of, the advocate of the applicant can pray of interim-bail of the accused till the final disposal of the bail application. If the Hon’ble Session Court grants interim-bail to the accused than in that case, the police will not arrest the alleged accused or the applicant till the final disposal of the anticipatory bail application. But in spite of Court’s order on interim bail, the applicant has to furnish the certified copy of the order of the interim anticipatory bail to the concerned police station. Generally, the Court grants the interim anticipatory bail to the applicant or accused as the court is always loaded with a lot of anticipatory bail application. In extreme situation, the court may reject the interim anticipatory application of the accused or applicant.

It is very necessary to take an order of interim anticipatory bail as there are chances that the final disposal of the anticipatory bail application may take a long time. The delay in passing the order may be because the Investigating Officer may not furnish his say to the Hon’ble Session Court for two or three consecutive dates, the Judge may discharge the board due to the heavy board, urgent and time-bound matters, old matters. Sometimes the matter is also delayed due to public prosecutor as he may be absent for two or three consecutive dates or he may not file his say in time and sometimes he may not be prepared for argument also. It is also delayed as some time your own lawyer may not be ready to argue the matter due to his personal difficulty to attend the matter so it is always advisable to take interim anticipatory bail when the anticipatory bail application is pending and filed before the Hon’ble Session Court.

What happen if bail is granted?

If Anticipatory Bail is granted, then the Police cannot arrest you and take you into custody and instead they have to call you to Police Station periodically in order to do the investigation. Bail is applied for after the accused person is taken into custody. However you have to apply for bail when the charge sheet is filed and in the meantime you have to comply with the order of the Hon’ble Session Court for e.g you may not be allowed to visit abroad or leave India till the final disposal or during the trial of the matter or Hon’ble Session Court may also give direction to deposit your Original Passport to the concerned police station. But in case if the condition given by the Hon’ble Session Court while granting anticipatory bail becomes difficult than in that case the applicant or the accused can apply again for the relation of the conditions of the anticipatory bail order.

How to get Successful ABA?

For successful ABA, it is of huge benefit if the Accused has a permanent fixed address in the city and also has a proper job or his own business. The lawyer will have to show to the Court that the Accused is a person of good character who will not run away from the City to avoid the investigation and trial. The Accused has to promise to cooperate with the Trial. Only then ABA or Bail can be granted. Otherwise, Bail can even be cancelled later on if Accused does not cooperate with Prosecution/Court. Thus anticipatory bail /Bail cannot be taken for granted, in fact Court has the discretion to refuse anticipatory bail /Bail also. A person having many prior FIR and Trial against him will find it more difficult to get anticipatory bail quickly.
Normally lawyers will charge fees for Anticipatory Bail depending upon complexity and seriousness of the Charges. Lawyers have to work on an urgency basis in anticipatory bail matters, often they work until the Midnight in order to prepare and print the draft and then present the same in the Court in the next morning so as to protect the accused rights and prevent his custody. Hence the fees for anticipatory bail tend to be quite high, however, most lawyers will do discounted rates or even pro-bono for deserving people belonging to financially weaker sections or for poor people facing harassment from Police.
Normally in anticipatory bail /Bail and criminal matters, it is more useful to go through only recommendations from friends/relatives or other known and trusted persons in society, local social workers/leaders etc. Going through Google search also helps as the dedicated lawyers will have self-evident high reviews on Google.