SC grants pre-arrest bail to Punjab patwari in graft case, disapproves HC’s approach

Gursewak Singh, a patwari with the Punjab revenue department, had moved the high court in 2025, seeking anticipatory bail in the graft case

The Supreme Court has granted anticipatory bail to a Punjab government employee in a 2021 corruption case while strongly disapproving how the Punjab and Haryana high court dealt with his plea.

The top court on September 3 noted the high court granted bail to a co-accused accused of receiving the bribe amount, but refused the reprieve to the accused patwari (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Gursewak Singh, a patwari with the Punjab revenue department, had moved the high court in 2025, seeking anticipatory bail in the graft case.

The top court on September 3 noted the high court granted bail to a co-accused accused of receiving the bribe amount, but refused the reprieve to Singh. The high court instead asked the Punjab DGP why a chargesheet was not filed, besides questioning the four-year delay in arresting the accused.

Terming the high court direction as “very cryptic and unusual”, a bench comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Sandeep Mehta said, “We do not approve the manner in which the high court has dealt with the plea of anticipatory bail.”

The bench continued, “Either the high court should have allowed the application 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 order, also wondered why should the high court, while considering the anticipatory bail, ask the probe agency about why it didn’t arrest the accused for the last four years.

“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,” the bench said.

While noting the case was still pending with the high court, the top court decided not to wait for the final outcome of the case there.

Exercising its discretion, the Supreme Court held, in the event of arrest, the accused should be released on bail “subject to the terms and conditions” of the investigating officer of the Economic Offence Branch, Ludhiana, Punjab.