The Uttar Pradesh government today told the Supreme Court that it was coming up with a law to restore the anticipatory bail provision in the state which was scrapped during the Emergency in 1976.
The counsel for the state government told the apex court that the government plans to introduce a bill in the Assembly to revive the pre-arrest bail provision.
The statement by the UP government came when a bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao was hearing a petition filed by a lawyer seeking restoration of the provision of anticipatory bail in Uttar Pradesh, saying its absence was "discriminatory" to the people of the state.
Uttarakhand, the only other state in the country without a provision of anticipatory bail, told the court that it will file its response in the matter.
The top court had in 2008 recommended to the UP government to take appropriate steps and bring an ordinance to restore the provision for anticipatory bail in the state.
The state government had in 2010 brought an amendment in the law to include the provision for anticipatory bail.
The top court had earlier asked the state government why it had not placed before the Assembly 'The Code of Criminal Procedure Uttar Pradesh (Amendment) Bill, 2010' after the President had withheld the assent and sent it back in September 2011.
The bench was hearing a petition by lawyer Sanjeev Bhatnagar, who said that after the President had sent back the amendment in September 2011, the state had not done anything in the matter.
In 2010, the state government had brought amendment to restore the provision of section 438 of the CrPC which deals with anticipatory bail. In August 2010, the state Assembly had passed the Amendment Act to restore the provision.
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