1

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL ORIGINAL/APPELLATE JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. 67 OF 2017

NIKESH TARACHAND SHAH …PETITIONER

VERSUS

UNION OF INDIA & ANR. …RESPONDENTS

WITH

WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO.103 OF 2017

WITH

WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO.144 OF 2017

WITH

WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO.152 OF 2017

WITH

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 2012 OF 2017

(ARISING OUT OF SLP (CRL) NO.7326 OF 2017)

WITH

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 2013 OF 2017

(ARISING OUT OF SLP (CRL) NO.7786 OF 2017)

WITH

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 2014 OF 2017

(ARISING OUT OF SLP (CRL) NO.7789 OF 2017)

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J U D G M E N T

R.F. Nariman, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The present writ petitions and appeals raise the question

of the constitutional validity of Section 45 of the Prevention of

Money Laundering Act, 2002. Section 45(1) imposes two

conditions for grant of bail where an offence punishable for a

term of imprisonment of more than 3 years under Part A of the

Schedule to the Act is involved. The conditions are that the

Public Prosecutor must be given an opportunity to oppose any

application for release on bail and the Court must be satisfied,

where the Public Prosecutor opposes the application, that there

are reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not

guilty of such offence, and that he is not likely to commit any

offence while on bail.

3. The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 was

introduced, as its Statement of Objects and Reasons mentions,

to make money laundering an offence, and to attach property

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involved in money laundering, so that this serious threat to the

financial system of India is adequately dealt with. It is worth

setting out the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Act in

full.

“STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

It is being realised, world over, that money-

laundering poses a serious threat not only to the

financial systems of countries, but also to their

integrity and sovereignty. Some of the initiatives

taken by the international community to obviate

such threats are outlined below:—

(a) the United Nations Convention Against Illicit

Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

Substances, to which India is a party, calls for

prevention of laundering of proceeds of drug crimes

and other connected activities and confiscation of

proceeds derived from such offence.

(b) the Basle Statement of Principles, enunciated in

1989, outlined basic policies and procedures that

banks should follow in order to assist the law

enforcement agencies in tackling the problem of

money-laundering.

(c) the Financial Action Task Force established at

the summit of seven major industrial nations, held in

Paris from 14th to 16th July, 1989, to examine the

problem of money-laundering has made forty

recommendations, which provide the foundation

material for comprehensive legislation to combat the

problem of money-laundering. The

recommendations were classified under various

heads. Some of the important heads are—

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(i) declaration of laundering of monies

carried through serious crimes a

criminal offence;

(ii) to work out modalities of disclosure

by financial institutions regarding

reportable transactions;

(iii) confiscation of the proceeds of

crime;

(iv) declaring money-laundering to be an

extraditable offence; and

(v) promoting international co-operation

in investigation of money-laundering.

(d) the Political Declaration and Global Programme

of Action adopted by United Nations General

Assembly by its Resolution No. S-17/2 of 23rd

February, 1990, inter alia, calls upon the member

States to develop mechanism to prevent financial

institutions from being used for laundering of drug

related money and enactment of legislation to

prevent such laundering.

(e) the United Nations in the Special Session on

Countering World Drug Problem Together

concluded on the 8th to the 10th June, 1998 has

made another declaration regarding the need to

combat money-laundering. India is a signatory to

this declaration.

2. In view of an urgent need for the enactment or a

comprehensive legislation inter alia for preventing

money-laundering and connected activities

confiscation of proceeds of crime, setting up of

agencies and mechanisms for coordinating

measures for combating money-laundering, etc., the

Prevention of Money-Laundering Bill, 1998 was

introduced in the Lok Sabha on the 4th August,

1998. The Bill was referred to the Standing

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Committee on Finance, which presented its report

on the 4th March, 1999 to the Lok Sabha. The

recommendations of the Standing Committee

accepted by the Central Government are that (a)

the expressions “banking company” and “person”

may be defined; (b) in Part I of the Schedule under

Indian Penal Code the word offence under section

477A relating to falsification of accounts should be

omitted; (c) ‘knowingly’ be inserted in clause 3(b)

relating to the definition of money-laundering; (d)

the banking companies, financial institutions and

intermediaries should be required to furnish

information of transactions to the Director instead of

Commissioner of Income-tax (e) the banking

companies should also be brought within the ambit

of clause II relating to obligations of financial

institutions and intermediaries; (f) a definite time-

limit of 24 hours should be provided for producing a

person about to be searched or arrested person

before the Gazetted Officer or Magistrate; (g) the

words “unless otherwise proved to the satisfaction

of the authority concerned” may be inserted in

clause 22 relating to presumption on inter-

connected transactions; (h) vacancy in the office of

the Chairperson of an Appellate Tribunal, by reason

of his death, resignation or otherwise, the senior-

most member shall act as the Chairperson till the

date on which a new Chairperson appointed in

accordance with the provisions of this Act to fill the

vacancy, enters upon his office; (i) the appellant

before the Appellate Tribunal may be authorised to

engage any authorised representative as defined

under section 288 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, (j)

the punishment for vexatious search and for false

information may be enhanced from three months

imprisonment to two years imprisonment, or fine of

rupees ten thousand to fine of rupees fifty thousand

or both; (k) the word ‘good faith’ may be

incorporated in the clause relating to Bar of legal

proceedings. The Central Government have broadly

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accepted the above recommendations and made

provisions of the said recommendations in the Bill.

3. In addition to above recommendations of the

standing committee the Central Government

proposes to (a) relax the conditions prescribed for

grant of bail so that the Court may grant bail to a

person who is below sixteen years of age, or

woman, or sick or infirm, (b) levy of fine for default

of non-compliance of the issue of summons, etc. (c)

make provisions for having reciprocal arrangement

for assistance in certain matters and procedure for

attachment and confiscation of property so as to

facilitate the transfer of funds involved in money-

laundering kept outside the country and extradition

of the accused persons from abroad.

4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.”

4. Though the Act was passed by Parliament in the year

2002, it was brought into force only on 1.7.2005. Some of the

important provisions, with which we are directly concerned, are

set out hereinbelow:

“Section 2. Definitions.—(1) In this Act, unless the

context otherwise requires,—

(p) “money-laundering” has the meaning assigned

to it in section 3;

(u) “proceeds of crime” means any property derived

or obtained, directly or indirectly, by any person as a

result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled

offence or the value of any such property or where

such property is taken or held outside the country,

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then the property equivalent in value held within the

country;

(x) “Schedule” means the Schedule to this Act;

(y) “scheduled offence” means—

(i) the offences specified under Part A of the

Schedule; or

(ii) the offences specified under Part B of the

Schedule if the total value involved in such offences

is one crore rupees or more; or

(iii) the offences specified under Part C of the

Schedule.

Section 3. Offence of money-laundering .—

Whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge

or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is

actually involved in any process or activity

connected with proceeds of crime including its

concealment, possession, acquisition or use and

projecting or claiming it as untainted property shall

be guilty of offence of money-laundering.

Section 4. Punishment for money-laundering.—

Whoever commits the offence of money-laundering

shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a

term which shall not be less than three years but

which may extend to seven years and shall also be

liable to fine: Provided that where the proceeds of

crime involved in money-laundering relates to any

offence specified under paragraph 2 of Part A of the

Schedule, the provisions of this section shall have

effect as if for the words “which may extend to

seven years”, the words “which may extend to ten

years” had been substituted.

Section 5. Attachment of property involved in

money-laundering.

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(1) Where the Director or any other officer not below

the rank of Deputy Director authorised by the

Director for the purposes of this section, has reason

to believe (the reason for such belief to be recorded

in writing), on the basis of material in his

possession, that—

(a) any person is in possession of any proceeds of

crime; and

(b) such proceeds of crime are likely to be

concealed, transferred or dealt with in any manner

which may result in frustrating any proceedings

relating to confiscation of such proceeds of crime

under this Chapter, he may, by order in writing,

provisionally attach such property for a period not

exceeding one hundred and eighty days from the

date of the order, in such manner as may be

prescribed:

Provided that no such order of attachment shall be

made unless, in relation to the scheduled offence, a

report has been forwarded to a Magistrate under

section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,

1973 (2 of 1974), or a complaint has been filed by a

person authorised to investigate the offence

mentioned in that Schedule, before a Magistrate or

court for taking cognizance of the scheduled

offence, as the case may be, or a similar report or

complaint has been made or filed under the

corresponding law of any other country:

Provided further that, notwithstanding anything

contained in first proviso, any property of any

person may be attached under this section if the

Director or any other officer not below the rank of

Deputy Director authorised by him for the purposes

of this section has reason to believe (the reasons

for such belief to be recorded in writing), on the

basis of material in his possession, that if such

property involved in money-laundering is not

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attached immediately under this Chapter, the non-

attachment of the property is likely to frustrate any

proceeding under this Act.

(2) The Director, or any other officer not below the

rank of Deputy Director, shall, immediately after

attachment under sub-section (1), forward a copy of

the order, along with the material in his possession,

referred to in that sub-section, to the Adjudicating

Authority, in a sealed envelope, in the manner as

may be prescribed and such Adjudicating Authority

shall keep such order and material for such period

as may be prescribed.

(3) Every order of attachment made under sub-

section (1) shall cease to have effect after the expiry

of the period specified in that sub-section or on the

date of an order made under sub-section (2) of

section 8, whichever is earlier.

(4) Nothing in this section shall prevent the person

interested in the enjoyment of the immovable

property attached under sub-section (1) from such

enjoyment.

Explanation.— For the purposes of this sub-section,

“person interested”, in relation to any immovable

property, includes all persons claiming or entitled to

claim any interest in the property.

(5) The Director or any other officer who

provisionally attaches any property under sub-

section (1) shall, within a period of thirty days from

such attachment, file a complaint stating the facts of

such attachment before the Adjudicating Authority.

xxx xxx xxx

Section 43. Special Courts.—

(1) The Central Government, in consultation with

the Chief Justice of the High Court, shall, for trial of

offence punishable under section 4, by notification,

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designate one or more Courts of Session as Special

Court or Special Courts or such area or areas or for

such case or class or group of cases as may be

specified in the notification.

Explanation.— In this sub-section, “High Court”

means the High Court of the State in which a

Sessions Court designated as Special Court was

functioning immediately before such designation.

(2) While trying an offence under this Act, a Special

Court shall also try an offence, other than an

offence referred to in sub-section (1), with which the

accused may, under the Code of Criminal

Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), be charged at the

same trial.

Section 44. Offences triable by Special Courts.—

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code

of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974),—

(a) an offence punishable under section 4 and any

scheduled offence connected to the offence under

that section shall be triable by the Special Court

constituted for the area in which the offence has

been committed: Provided that the Special Court,

trying a scheduled offence before the

commencement of this Act, shall continue to try

such scheduled offence; or

(b) a Special Court may, upon perusal of police

report of the facts which constitute an offence under

this Act or upon a complaint made by an authority

authorised in this behalf under this Act take

cognizance of offence under section 3, without the

accused being committed to it for trial;

(c) if the court which has taken cognizance of the

scheduled offence is other than the Special Court

which has taken cognizance of the complaint of the

offence of money-laundering under sub-clause (b),

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it shall, on an application by the authority authorised

to file a complaint under this Act, commit the case

relating to the scheduled offence to the Special

Court and the Special Court shall, on receipt of such

case proceed to deal with it from the stage at which

it is committed.

(d) a Special Court while trying the scheduled

offence or the offence of money-laundering shall

hold trial in accordance with the provisions of the

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) as it

applies to a trial before a Court of Session.

(2) Nothing contained in this section shall be

deemed to affect the special powers of the High

Court regarding bail under section 439 of the Code

of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) and the

High Court may exercise such powers including the

power under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of that

section as if the reference to “Magistrate” in that

section includes also a reference to a “Special

Court” designated under section 43.

Section 45. Offences to be cognizable and non-

bailable.—

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code

of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), no person

accused of an offence punishable for a term of

imprisonment of more than three years under Part A

of the Schedule shall be released on bail or on his

own bond unless—

(i) the Public Prosecutor has been given a

opportunity to oppose the application for such

release; and

(ii) where the Public Prosecutor opposes the

application, the court is satisfied that there are

reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty

of such offence and that he is not likely to commit

any offence while on bail: Provided that a person,

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who, is under the age of sixteen years, or is a

woman or is sick or infirm, may be released on bail,

if the Special Court so directs: Provided further that

the Special Court shall not take cognizance of any

offence punishable under section 4 except upon a

complaint in writing made by—

(i) the Director; or

(ii) any officer of the Central Government or a State

Government authorised in writing in this behalf by

the Central Government by a general or special

order made in this behalf by that Government.

(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in the

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), or

any other provision of this Act, no police officer shall

investigate into an offence under this Act unless

specifically authorised, by the Central Government

by a general or special order, and, subject to such

conditions as may be prescribed.

(2) The limitation on granting of bail specified in

sub-section (1) is in addition to the limitations under

the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) or

any other law for the time being in force on granting

of bail.

Section 46. Application of Code of Criminal

Procedure, 1973 to proceedings before Special

Court.—

(1) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the

provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

(2 of 1974) (including the provisions as to bails or

bonds), shall apply to the proceedings before a

Special Court and for the purposes of the said

provisions, the Special Court shall be deemed to be

a Court of Session and the persons conducting the

prosecution before the Special Court, shall be

deemed to be a Public Prosecutor: Provided that

the Central Government may also appoint for any

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case or class or group of cases a Special Public

Prosecutor.

(2) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed

as a Public Prosecutor or a Special Public

Prosecutor under this section unless he has been in

practice as an advocate for not less than seven

years, under the Union or a State, requiring special

knowledge of law.

(3) Every person appointed as a Public Prosecutor

or a Special Public Prosecutor under this section

shall be deemed to be a Public Prosecutor within

the meaning of clause (u) of section 2 of the Code

of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) and the

provisions of that Code shall have effect

accordingly.

xxx xxx xxx

Section 65. Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to

apply.— The provisions of the Code of Criminal

Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) shall apply, in so far as

they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this

Act, to arrest, search and seizure, attachment,

confiscation investigation, prosecution and all other

proceedings under this Act.

xxx xxx xxx

Section 71. Act to have overriding effect.—The

provisions of this Act shall have effect

notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith

contained in any other law for the time being in

force.”

5. Shri Mukul Rohatgi, learned senior advocate appearing

on behalf of the petitioners, has argued before us that Section

45 of the said Act, when it imposes two further conditions

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before grant of bail is manifestly arbitrary, discriminatory and

violative of the petitioner’s fundamental rights under Article 14

read with Article 21 of the Constitution. According to learned

senior counsel, at the stage that the said Act was a Bill (which

was referred to a Standing Committee on Finance of the

Parliament, and which presented its report on 4.3.1999 to the

Lok Sabha), the Central Government broadly accepted the

recommendations of the Standing Committee, which were then

incorporated in the said Bill along with some other changes. At

this stage, argued Shri Rohatgi, it is interesting to note that

Clauses 43 and 44 of the Bill, which correspond to Sections 44

and 45 of the present Act, were very differently worded and

dealt only with offences under the 2002 Act. The twin

conditions laid down as additional conditions for grant of bail

were, at this stage, only qua offences under the 2002 Act.

When Parliament enacted the 2002 Act, this scheme was

completely changed in that Section 45 of the Act now spoke

only of the predicate/scheduled offence and not the offence

under the 2002 Act. In the present Act, a scheduled offence,

which is an offence under other penal laws contained in Part A

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of the Schedule, that is tried with offences under the Act, bail

would be granted only after satisfying the twin conditions laid

down in the Section. Also, when the Act was originally enacted,

according to learned senior counsel, part A of the Schedule

was very sparsely populated, in that it comprised of two

paragraphs only consisting of two offences under the Indian

Penal Code, 1860 and 9 offences under the Narcotic Drugs and

Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. These offences were

considered extremely heinous by the legislature and were,

therefore, classified apart from offences under Part B, which

dealt with certain other offences under the Indian Penal Code

and offences under the Arms Act 1959, Wildlife (Protection) Act

1972, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 and th e

Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. According to learned

senior counsel, this classification was maintained right until the

Amendment Act of 2012, which then incorporated Part B

offences into Part A of the Schedule, resulting in offences under

26 Acts, together with many more offences under the Indian

Penal Code, all being put under Part A. This, according to

learned senior counsel, was done because the definition of

16

“scheduled offence” in Section 2(y) of the Act made it clear that,

if offences are specified under Part B of the Schedule at the

relevant time, the total value involved for such offences should

be Rs.30 lakhs or more. The idea behind the 2012 Amendment,

as the Statement of Objects of the said Amendment discloses,

is that this limit of Rs.30 lakhs be removed, which is why the

entire Part B of the Schedule was subsumed in Part A. He

further argued that the object was not to deny bail to those

charged with offences under the erstwhile Part B, and that

putting Part B offences together with heinous offences in Part A

would amount to treating unequals equally and would be

discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. In

addition, such lumping together of disparate offences would

have no rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by

the Amendment Act of 2012, that is to obviate the Rs.30 lakh

limit qua Part B offences, and it would violate Article 14 on this

ground as well. According to learned senior counsel, the

change from the original scheme of the Bill to introducing

offences outside the 2002 Act dependent upon which bail would

be granted, with the twin conditions as aforestated first having

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to be satisfied, is itself manifestly arbitrary, in that the predicate

offence, which is the scheduled offence, and the classification

of such offence as being punishable with three years or more

would again be wholly irrelevant and would have absolutely no

rational relation to the object of granting bail insofar as offences

under the 2002 Act are concerned. Learned senior counsel

also referred to Article 21 of the Constitution and stated that the

aforesaid procedure would be unfair, unjust and would fall foul

of Article 21 inasmuch as it would certainly fall foul of the US

Constitution’s Eighth Amendment which interdicts excessive

bails. Since this Court has recognized that this feature of the

Eighth Amendment would fall within Article 21, it would be a

direct infraction thereof. He also argued that a person will be

punished for an offence contained under the 2002 Act, but will

be denied bail because of a predicate offence which is

contained in Part A of the Schedule, which would again render

Section 45(1) as manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable. He

referred to Nikesh Tarachand Shah’s case, which is Writ

Petition (criminal) No.67 of 2017, in which the scheduled

offences were Sections 120B, 409, 420, 471 and 477A of the

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Indian Penal Code read with Section 13 of the Prevention of

Corruption Act. These offences were being investigated by the

CBI in CBI Special Case No.91/2009 in which the petitioner

was granted bail by the Sessions Court by an order dated

10.12.2015. When the offence under the 2002 Act was added

to the aforesaid offences, thanks to the applicability of the twin

conditions in Section 45(1), he was denied bail with effect from

27.11.2015, which itself shows that Section 45(1) is being used

in an extremely manifestly arbitrary fashion to deny bail for

offences which extend only to seven years under the 2002 Act,

as opposed to predicate offences which may extend even to life

imprisonment. Also, according to learned senior counsel, the

threshold of three years and above contained in Section 45 of

the 2002 Act is itself manifestly arbitrary in that it has no

reference to the offence of money laundering under the 2002

Act, but only to three years and more of the predicate offence.

There is no condition, so far as the 2002 Act is concerned, of

classification based on the amount of money that is laundered,

which perhaps may be a valid basis for classification. Also,

according to learned senior counsel, if the twin conditions of

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Section 45(1) are to be satisfied at the stage of bail, the

defendants will have to disclose their defence at a point in time

when they are unable to do so, having been arrested and not

being granted bail at the inception itself. Another conundrum

raised by Section 45 is the fact that, there being no interdict

against anticipatory bail in the 2002 Act, and the Code of

Criminal Procedure applying to offences under the 2002 Act, it

would be clear that anticipatory bail could be granted for both

offences under the 2002 Act and predicate offences. This being

so, unlike the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act

1987, where anticipatory bail expressly cannot be granted, the

twin conditions of Section 45 would not apply at the anticipatory

bail stage, which would mean that a person charged of money

laundering and a predicate offence could continue o n

anticipatory bail throughout the trial without satisfying any of the

twin conditions, as opposed to a person who applies for regular

bail, who would have to satisfy the twin conditions, which in

practice would mean denial of bail. For all these reasons,

according to learned senior counsel, Section 45 needs to be

struck down. Also, according to learned senior counsel, it is not

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possible to read down the provision to make it constitutional as

the very scheme of Section 45 is manifestly arbitrary and

irrational. Shri Rohatgi cited various judgments to buttress his

submissions which will be referred to by us in the course of this

judgment.

6. On the other hand, the learned Attorney General Shri K.K.

Venugopal impressed upon us the fact that the Parliamentary

legislation qua money laundering is an attempt by Parliament to

get back money which has been siphoned off from the

economy. According to the learned Attorney General,

scheduled offences and offences under Sections 3 and 4 of the

2002 Act have to be read together and the said Act, therefore,

forms a complete code which must be looked at by itself.

According to the learned Attorney General, it is well settled that

classification which is punishment centric has been upheld by a

catena of judgments and so have the twin conditions been

upheld by various decisions which were referred to by him.

According to him, the expression “any offence” in Section

45(1)(ii) would mean offence of a like nature and not any

offence, which would include a traffic offence as well. According

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to the learned Attorney General, Section 45 can easily be read

down to make it constitutional in two ways. First, the

expression “there are reasonable grounds for believing that he

is not guilty of such offence” must be read as the making of a

prima facie assessment by the Court of reasonable guilt.

Secondly, according to the learned Attorney General, in any

case the conditions contained in Section 45(1)(ii) are there in a

different form when bail is granted ordinarily insofar as offences

generally are concerned and he referred to State of U.P.

through C.B.I. v. Amarmani Tripathi, (2005) 8 SCC 21 for this

purpose. According to the learned Attorney General, if

harmoniously construed with the rest of the Act, Section 45 is

unassailable. He relied upon Section 24 of the Act, which

inverts the burden of proof, and strongly relied upon Gautam

Kundu v. Directorate of Enforcement (Prevention of Money-

Laundering Act), (2015) 16 SCC 1 and Rohit Tandon

v. The Enforcement Directorate, Criminal Appeal Nos.1878--

1879 Of 2017 decided on 10th November, 2017. In answer to

Shri Rohatgi’s argument on the object of the 2012 Amendment

Act, according to the learned Attorney General, it is well settled

22

that where the language of the Act is plain, no recourse can be

taken to the object of the Act and he cited a number of

judgments for this proposition. He referred us to Section 106 of

the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and argued that when read with

Section 24 of the 2002 Act, it would be clear that the twin

conditions contained in Section 45 are only in furtherance of the

object of unearthing black money and that we should, therefore,

be very slow to set at liberty persons who are alleged offenders

of the cancer of money laundering. Ultimately, according to the

learned Attorney General, Section 45 being part of a complete

code must be upheld in order that the 2002 Act work, so that

money that is laundered comes back into the economy and

persons responsible for the same are brought to book.

7. Having heard learned counsel for both sides, it is

important to first understand what constitutes the offence of

money laundering. Under Section 3 of the Act, the kind of

persons responsible for money laundering is extremely wide.

Words such as “whosoever”, “directly or indirectly” and

“attempts to indulge” would show that all persons who are even

remotely involved in this offence are sought to be roped in. An

23

important ingredient of the offence is that these persons must

be knowingly or actually involved in any process or activity

connected with proceeds of crime and “proceeds of crime” is

defined under the Act, by Section 2 (u) thereof, to mean any

property derived or obtained directly or indirectly, by any person

as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence

(which is referred to in our judgment as the predicate offence).

Thus, whosever is involved as aforesaid, in a process or activity

connected with “proceeds of crime” as defined, which would

include concealing, possessing, acquiring or using such

property, would be guilty of the offence, provided such persons

also project or claim such property as untainted property.

Section 3, therefore, contains all the aforesaid ingredients, and

before somebody can be adjudged as guilty under the said

provision, the said person must not only be involved in any

process or activity connected with proceeds of crime, but must

also project or claim it as being untainted property. Under

Section 4 of the Act, the offence of money laundering is

punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a minimum period of

three years which may extend to 7 years and fine. Also, under

24

the proviso, where the proceeds of crime involved in money

laundering relate to a predicate offence under paragraph 2 of

Part A of the Schedule, the sentence then gets extended from 7

years to 10 years.

8. Under Section 5 of the Act, attachment of such property

takes place so that such property may be brought back into the

economy. Coming now to Chapter VII of the Act with which we

are really concerned, Section 43 lays down that Special Courts

to try offences under the Act are to be designated for such area

or areas or for such case or class or group of cases as may be

specified by notification. Section 44 is very important in that the

Section provides for the trial of a scheduled offence and the

offence of money laundering together by the same Special

Court, which is to try such offences under the Code of Criminal

Procedure as if it were a court of sessions. Under Section 46,

read with Section 65 of the Act, the provisions of the Code of

Criminal Procedure apply to proceedings before the Special

Court and for the purpose of the said provisions, the Special

Court shall be deemed to be a court of sessions.

25

9. When the Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, 1999 was

tabled before Parliament, Section 44, which corresponds to

Section 45 of the present Act, provided that several offences

punishable under “this Act” are to be cognizable, and the twin

conditions for release on bail would apply only insofar as the

offences under the Act itself are concerned. When the Act was

finally enacted in 2002 and notified in 2005, this scheme

changed radically. Now, both the offence of money laundering

and the predicate offence were to be tried by the Special Court,

and bail is granted only if the twin conditions under Section

45(1) are met, where the term of imprisonment is more than

three years for the predicate offence. It is important to note that

Clause 44 of the Bill referred only to offences under Sections 3

and 4 of the Bill, whereas Section 45 of the Act does not refer

to offences under Sections 3 and 4 of the Act at all. Reference

is made only to offences under Part A of the Schedule, which

are offences outside the 2002 Act. This fundamental difference

between the Bill and the Act has a great bearing on the

constitutional validity of Section 45(1) with which we are directly

and immediately concerned.

26

10. The provision for bail goes back to Magna Carta itself.

Clause 39, which was, at that time, written in Latin, is translated

as follows:

“No free man shall be seized or imprisoned or

stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or

exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way,

nor will we proceed with force against him, or send

others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his

equals or by the law of the land.”

It is well known that Magna Carta, which was wrung out of King

John by the barons on the 15

th

of June, 1215, was annulled by

Pope Innocent III in August of that very year. King John died

one year later, leaving the throne to his 9 year old son, Henry

III. It is in the reign of this pious King and his son, Edward I, that

Magna Carta was recognized by kingly authority. In fact, by the

statutes of Westminster of 1275, King Edward I repeated the

injunction contained in clause 39 of Magna Carta. However,

when it came to the reign of the Stuarts, who believed that they

were kings on earth as a matter of divine right, a struggle

ensued between Parliament and King Charles I. This led to

another great milestone in the history of England called the

Petition of Right of 1628. Moved by the hostility to the Duke of

Buckingham, the House of Commons denied King Charles I the

27

means to conduct military operations abroad. The King was

unwilling to give up his military ambition and resorted to the

expedient of a forced loan to finance it. A number of those

subject to the imposition declined to pay, and some were

imprisoned; among them were those who became famous as

“the Five Knights”. Each of them sought a writ of habeas corpus

to secure his release. One of the Knights, Sir Thomas Darnel,

gave up the fight, but the other four fought on. The King’s

Bench, headed by the Chief Justice, made an order sending the

knights back to prison. The Chief Justice’s order was, in fact, a

provisional refusal of bail. Parliament being displeased with

this, invoked Magna Carta and the statutes of Westminster, and

thus it came about that the Petition of Right was presented and

adopted by the Lords and a reluctant King. Charles I reluctantly

accepted this Petition of Right stating, “let right be done as is

desired by the petition”. Among other things, the Petition had

prayed that no free man should be imprisoned or detained,

except by authority of law.

11. In Bushel’s case, decided in 1670, Chief Justice Sir John

Vaughan was able to state that, “the writ of habeas corpus is

28

now the most usual remedy by which a man is restored again to

his liberty, if he have been against law deprived of it.” Despite

this statement of the law, one Jenkes was arrested and

imprisoned for inciting persons to riot in a speech, asking that

King Charles II be petitioned to call a new Parliament. Jenkes

went from pillar to post in order to be admitted to bail. The Lord

Chief Justice sent him to the Lord Chancellor, who, in turn, sent

him to the Lord Treasurer, who sent him to the King himself,

who, “immediately commanded that the laws should have their

due course.” (See Jenke’s case, 6 How. St. Tr. 1189 at 1207,

1208 (1676)). It is cases like these that led to the next great

milestone of English history, namely the Habeas Corpus Act of

1679. This Act recited that many of the King’s subjects have

been long detained in prison in cases where, by law, they

should have been set free on bail. The Act provided for a

habeas corpus procedure which plugged legal loopholes and

even made the King’s Bench Judges subject to penalties for

non-compliance.

12. The next great milestone in English history is the Bill of

Rights of 1689, which was accepted by the only Dutch monarch

29

that England ever had, King William III, who reigned jointly with

his wife Queen Mary II. It is in this document that the

expression “excessive bail ought not to be required….” first

appears in Chapter 2, clause 10.

13. What is important to learn from this history is that clause

39 of Magna Carta was subsequently extended to pre-trial

imprisonment, so that persons could be enlarged on bail to

secure their attendance for the ensuing trial. It may only be

added that one century after the Bill of Rights, the US

Constitution borrowed the language of the Bill of Rights when

the principle of habeas corpus found its way into Article 1

Section 9 of the US Constitution, followed by the Eighth

Amendment to the Constitution which expressly states that,

“excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines

imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. We may

only add that the Eighth Amendment has been read into Article

21 by a Division Bench of this Court in Rajesh Kumar v. State

through Government of NCT of Delhi (2011) 13 SCC 706, at

paragraphs 60 and 61.

30

14. In Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab, (1980) 2

SCC 565 at 586-588, the purpose of granting bail is set out with

great felicity as follows:-

“27. It is not necessary to refer to decisions which

deal with the right to ordinary bail because that right

does not furnish an exact parallel to the right to

anticipatory bail. It is, however, interesting that as

long back as in 1924 it was held by the High Court

of Calcutta in Nagendra v. King-Emperor [AIR 1924

Cal 476, 479, 480 : 25 Cri LJ 732] that the object of

bail is to secure the attendance of the accused at

the trial, that the proper test to be applied in the

solution of the question whether bail should be

granted or refused is whether it is probable that the

party will appear to take his trial and that it is

indisputable that bail is not to be withheld as a

punishment. In two other cases which, significantly,

are the ‘Meerut Conspiracy cases’ observations are

to be found regarding the right to bail which deserve

a special mention. In K.N. Joglekar v. Emperor [AIR

1931 All 504 : 33 Cri LJ 94] it was observed, while

dealing with Section 498 which corresponds to the

present Section 439 of the Code, that it conferred

upon the Sessions Judge or the High Court wide

powers to grant bail which were not handicapped by

the restrictions in the preceding Section 497 which

corresponds to the present Section 437. It was

observed by the court that there was no hard and

fast rule and no inflexible principle governing the

exercise of the discretion conferred by Section 498

and that the only principle which was established

was that the discretion should be exercised

judiciously. In Emperor v. Hutchinson [AIR 1931 All

356, 358 : 32 Cri LJ 1271] it was said that it was

very unwise to make an attempt to lay down any

particular rules which will bind the High Court,

31

having regard to the fact that the legislature itself

left the discretion of the court unfettered. According

to the High Court, the variety of cases that may

arise from time to time cannot be safely classified

and it is dangerous to make an attempt to classify

the cases and to say that in particular classes a bail

may be granted but not in other classes. It was

observed that the principle to be deduced from the

various sections in the Criminal Procedure Code

was that grant of bail is the rule and refusal is the

exception. An accused person who enjoys freedom

is in a much better position to look after his case

and to properly defend himself than if he were in

custody. As a presumably innocent person he is

therefore entitled to freedom and every opportunity

to look after his own case. A presumably innocent

person must have his freedom to enable him to

establish his innocence.

28. Coming nearer home, it was observed by

Krishna Iyer, J., in Gudikanti Narasimhulu v. Public

Prosecutor [(1978) 1 SCC 240 : 1978 SCC (Cri)

115] that: (SCC p. 242, para 1)

“... the issue of bail is one of liberty,

justice, public safety and burden of the

public treasury, all of which insist that a

developed jurisprudence of bail is

integral to a socially sensitized judicial

process. . . . After all, personal liberty of

an accused or convict is fundamental,

suffering lawful eclipse only in terms of

procedure established by law. The last

four words of Article 21 are the life of

that human right.”

29. In Gurcharan Singh v. State (Delhi

Administration) [(1978) 1 SCC 118 : 1978 SCC (Cri)

41] it was observed by Goswami, J., who spoke for

the court, that: (SCC p. 129, para 29)

32

“There cannot be an inexorable formula

in the matter of granting bail. The facts

and circumstances of each case will

govern the exercise of judicial discretion

in granting or cancelling bail.”

30. In A

MERICAN JURISPRUDENCE (2d, Volume 8, p.

806, para 39), it is stated:

“Where the granting of bail lies within

the discretion of the court, the granting

or denial is regulated, to a large extent,

by the facts and circumstances of each

particular case. Since the object of the

detention or imprisonment of the

accused is to secure his appearance

and submission to the jurisdiction and

the judgment of the court, the primary

inquiry is whether a recognizance or

bond would effect that end.”

It is thus clear that the question whether to grant

bail or not depends for its answer upon a variety of

circumstances, the cumulative effect of which must

enter into the judicial verdict. Any one single

circumstance cannot be treated as of universal

validity or as necessarily justifying the grant or

refusal of bail.”

15. The stage is now set for an examination of the

constitutional validity of Section 45 of the 2002 Act.

16. At this stage, it is important to advert to the tests for the

violation of Article 14, both in its discriminatory aspect and its

“manifestly arbitrary” aspect. It is settled by a catena of cases

33

that Article 14 permits classification, provided such

classification bears a rational relation to the object sought to be

achieved. In an early judgment of this Court, State of Bombay

and Anr. v. F.N. Balsara (1951) SCR 682 at 708, Fazl Ali, J.

summarized the law as follows:

“(1) The presumption is always in favour of the

constitutionality of an enactment, since it must be

assumed that the legislature understands and

correctly appreciates the needs of its own people,

that its laws are directed to problems made manifest

by experience and its discriminations are based on

adequate grounds.

(2) The presumption may be rebutted in certain

cases by showing that on the face of the statute,

there is no classification at all and no difference

peculiar to any individual or class and not applicable

to any other individual or class, and yet the law hits

only a particular individual or class.

(3) The principle of equality does not mean that

every law must have universal application for all

persons who are not by nature, attainment or

circumstances in the same position, and the varying

needs of different classes of persons often require

separate treatment.

(4) The principle does not take away from the State

the power of classifying persons for legitimate

purposes.

(5) Every classification is in some degree likely to

produce some inequality, and mere production of

inequality is not enough.

(6) If a law deals equally with members of a well-

defined class, it is not obnoxious and it is not open

to the charge of denial of equal protection on the

ground that it has no application to other persons.

34

(7) While reasonable classification is permissible,

such classification must be based upon some real

and substantial distinction bearing a reasonable and

just relation to the object sought to be attained, and

the classification cannot be made arbitrarily and

without any substantial basis.”

Proposition 7 is important for the present purpose. Also, it is

well settled that Article 14 condemns discrimination not only by

substantive law, but also by procedural law. (See Budhan

Choudhry v. State of Bihar, (1955) 1 SCR 1045 at 1049).

17. After adverting to these judgments, Bhagwati J., in

Asgarali Nazarali Singaporawalla v. The State of Bombay,

1957 SCR 678 at 690-692 held:

“The first question which we have to address to

ourselves is whether there is in the impugned Act a

reasonable classification for the purposes of

legislation. If we look to the provisions of the

impugned Act closely it would appear that the

legislature classified the offences punishable under

Sections 161, 165 or 165-A of the Indian Penal

Code or sub-section (2) of Section 5 of the

Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 in one group or

category. They were offences relating to bribery or

corruption by public servants and were thus

appropriately classified in one group or category.

The classification was founded on an intelligible

differentia which distinguished the offenders thus

grouped together from those left out of the group.

The persons who committed these offences of

bribery or corruption would form a class by

themselves quite distinct from those offenders who

35

could be dealt with by the normal provisions

contained in the Indian Penal Code or the Code of

Criminal Procedure, 1898 and if the offenders falling

within this group or category were thus singled out

for special treatment, there would be no question of

any discriminatory treatment being meted out to

them as compared with other offenders who did not

fall within the same group or category and who

continued to be treated under the normal procedure.

The next question to consider is whether this

differentia had a rational relation to the object

sought to be achieved by the impugned Act. The

preamble of the Act showed that it was enacted for

providing a more speedy trial of certain offences. An

argument was however addressed before us based

on certain observations of Mahajan, J. (as he then

was) at p. 314, and Mukherjea, J. (as he then was)

at p. 328 in Anwar Ali Sarkar’s case [(1952) SCR

284] ) quoted at p. 43 by Patanjali Sastri, C.J. in the

case of Kedar Nath Bajoria v. State of West

Bengal [(1954) SCR 30] that the speedier trial of

offences could not afford a reasonable basis for

such classification. Standing by themselves these

passages might lend support to the contention

urged before us by the learned counsel for the

appellant. It must be noted, however, that this ratio

was not held to be conclusive by this Court in Kedar

Nath Bajoria’s case [(1954) SCR 30] where this

Court held:

“(1) That when a law like the present

one is impugned on the ground that it

contravenes Article 14 of the

Constitution the real issue to be decided

is whether, having regard to the

underlying purpose and policy of the Act

as disclosed by its title, preamble and

provisions, the classification of the

offences for the trial of which the Special

Court is set up and a special procedure

36

is laid down can be said to be

unreasonable or arbitrary and therefore

violative of the equal protection clause;

(2) having regard to the fact that the

types of offences specified in the

Schedule to the Act were very common

and widely prevalent during the post war

period and had to be checked effectively

and speedily tried, the legislation in

question must be regarded as having

been based on a perfectly intelligent

principle of classification, having a clear

and reasonable relation to the object

sought to be achieved, and it did not in

any way contravene Article 14 of the

Constitution.”

In the instant case, bribery and corruption having

been rampant and the need for weeding them out

having been urgently felt, it was necessary to enact

measures for the purpose of eliminating all possible

delay in bringing the offenders to book. It was with

that end in view that provisions were enacted in the

impugned Act for speedier trial of the said offences

by the appointment of Special Judges who were

invested with exclusive jurisdiction to try the same

and were also empowered to take cognizance

thereof without the accused being committed to

them for trial, and follow the procedure prescribed

for the trial of warrant cases by Magistrates. The

proceedings before the Special Judges were thus

assimilated to those before the courts of sessions

for trying cases without a jury or without the aid of

assessors and the powers of appeal and revision

invested in the High Court were also similarly

circumscribed. All these provisions had the

necessary effect of bringing about a speedier trial of

these offences and it cannot be denied that this

intelligible differentia had rational relation to the

object sought to be achieved by the impugned Act.

37

Both these conditions were thus fulfilled and it could

not be urged that the provisions of the impugned

Act were in any manner violative of Article 14 of the

Constitution.”

18. In so far as “manifest arbitrariness” is concerned, it is

important to advert to the majority judgment of this Court in

Shayara Bano v. Union of India and others, (2017) 9 SCC 1.

The majority, in an exhaustive review of case law under Article

14, which dealt with legislation being struck down on the ground

that it is manifestly arbitrary, has observed:

“87. The thread of reasonableness runs through the

entire fundamental rights chapter. What is

manifestly arbitrary is obviously unreasonable and

being contrary to the rule of law, would violate

Article 14. Further, there is an apparent

contradiction in the three-Judge Bench decision

in McDowell [State of A.P. v. McDowell and Co.,

(1996) 3 SCC 709] when it is said that a

constitutional challenge can succeed on the ground

that a law is “disproportionate, excessive or

unreasonable”, yet such challenge would fail on the

very ground of the law being “unreasonable,

38

unnecessary or unwarranted”. The arbitrariness

doctrine when applied to legislation obviously would

not involve the latter challenge but would only

involve a law being disproportionate, excessive or

otherwise being manifestly unreasonable. All the

aforesaid grounds, therefore, do not seek to

differentiate between State action in its various

forms, all of which are interdicted if they fall foul of

the fundamental rights guaranteed to persons and

citizens in Part III of the Constitution.

xxx xxx xxx

101. It will be noticed that a Constitution Bench of

this Court in Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay)

(P) Ltd. v. Union of India [Indian Express

Newspapers (Bombay) (P) Ltd. v. Union of India,

(1985) 1 SCC 641 : 1985 SCC (Tax) 121] stated

that it was settled law that subordinate legislation

can be challenged on any of the grounds available

for challenge against plenary legislation. This being

the case, there is no rational distinction between the

two types of legislation when it comes to this ground

of challenge under Article 14. The test of manifest

arbitrariness, therefore, as laid down in the

aforesaid judgments would apply to invalidate

legislation as well as subordinate legislation under

Article 14. Manifest arbitrariness, therefore, must be

something done by the legislature capriciously,

irrationally and/or without adequate determining

principle. Also, when something is done which is

excessive and disproportionate, such legislation

would be manifestly arbitrary. We are, therefore, of

the view that arbitrariness in the sense of manifest

arbitrariness as pointed out by us above would

apply to negate legislation as well under Article 14.”

39

This view of the law by two learned Judges of this Court was

concurred with by Kurian, J. in paragraph 5 of his judgment.

19. Article 21 is the Ark of the Covenant so far as the

Fundamental Rights chapter of the Constitution is concerned. It

deals with nothing less sacrosanct than the rights of life and

personal liberty of the citizens of India and other persons. It is

the only article in the Fundamental Rights chapter (along with

Article 20) that cannot be suspended even in an emergency

(See Article 359(1) of the Constitution). At present, Article 21

is the repository of a vast number of substantive and procedural

rights post Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) 1 SCC

248. Thus, in Rajesh Kumar (supra) at 724-726, this Court

held:

“56. Article 21 as enacted in our Constitution reads

as under:

“21. Protection of life and personal liberty.—No

person shall be deprived of his life or personal

liberty except according to procedure established by

law.”

57. But this Court in Bachan Singh [(1980) 2 SCC

684 : 1980 SCC (Cri) 580] held that in view of the

expanded interpretation of Article 21 in Maneka

Gandhi [(1978) 1 SCC 248], it should read as

follows: (Bachan Singh case [(1980) 2 SCC 684 :

1980 SCC (Cri) 580] , SCC p. 730, para 136)

40

“136. … ‘No person shall be deprived of his life or

personal liberty except according to fair, just and

reasonable procedure established by valid law.’

In the converse positive form, the expanded article

will read as below:

‘A person may be deprived of his life or personal

liberty in accordance with fair, just and reasonable

procedure established by valid law.’”

58. This epoch-making decision in Maneka Gandhi

[(1978) 1 SCC 248] has substantially infused the

concept of due process in our constitutional

jurisprudence whenever the court has to deal with a

question affecting life and liberty of citizens or even

a person. Krishna Iyer, J. giving a concurring

opinion in Maneka Gandhi [(1978) 1 SCC 248]

elaborated, in his inimitable style, the transition from

the phase of the rule of law to due process of law.

The relevant statement of law given by the learned

Judge is quoted below: (SCC p. 337, para 81)

“81. … ‘Procedure established by law’, with its lethal

potentiality, will reduce life and liberty to a

precarious plaything if we do not ex

necessitate import into those weighty words an

adjectival rule of law, civilised in its soul, fair in its

heart and fixing those imperatives of procedural

protection absent which the processual tail will wag

the substantive head. Can the sacred essence of

the human right to secure which the struggle for

liberation, with ‘do or die’ patriotism, was launched

be sapped by formalistic and pharisaic

prescriptions, regardless of essential standards? An

enacted apparition is a constitutional, illusion.

Processual justice is writ patently on Article 21. It is

too grave to be circumvented by a black letter ritual

processed through the legislature.”

59. Immediately after the decision in Maneka

Gandhi [(1978) 1 SCC 248] another Constitution

Bench of this Court rendered decision in Sunil

41

Batra v. Delhi Admn. [(1978) 4 SCC 494 : 1979

SCC (Cri) 155] specifically acknowledged that even

though a clause like the Eighth Amendment of the

United States Constitution and concept of “due

process” of the American Constitution is not

enacted in our Constitution text, but after the

decision of this Court in Rustom Cavasjee

Cooper [(1970) 1 SCC 248] and Maneka

Gandhi [(1978) 1 SCC 248] the consequences are

the same. The Constitution Bench of this Court

in Sunil Batra [(1978) 4 SCC 494 : 1979 SCC (Cri)

155] speaking through Krishna Iyer, J. held: (Sunil

Batra case [(1978) 4 SCC 494 : 1979 SCC (Cri)

155] , SCC p. 518, para 52)

“52. True, our Constitution has no ‘due process’

clause or the Eighth Amendment; but, in this branch

of law, after Cooper [(1970) 1 SCC 248]

and Maneka Gandhi [(1978) 1 SCC 248], the

consequence is the same.”

60. The Eighth Amendment (1791) to the

Constitution of the United States virtually emanated

from the English Bill of Rights (1689). The text of

the Eighth Amendment reads, “Excessive bail shall

not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor

cruel and unusual punishments inflicted”. The

English Bill of Rights drafted a century ago

postulates, “That excessive bail ought not to be

required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel

and unusual punishments inflicted”.

61. Our Constitution does not have a similar

provision but after the decision of this Court

in Maneka Gandhi case [(1978) 1 SCC 248]

jurisprudentially the position is virtually the same

and the fundamental respect for human dignity

underlying the Eighth Amendment has been read

into our jurisprudence.

62. Until the decision was rendered in Maneka

Gandhi [(1978) 1 SCC 248], Article 21 was viewed

42

by this Court as rarely embodying the Diceyian

concept of the rule of law that no one can be

deprived of his personal liberty by an executive

action unsupported by law. If there was a law which

provided some sort of a procedure it was enough to

deprive a person of his life or personal liberty. In this

connection, if we refer to the example given by S.R.

Das, J. in his judgment in A.K. Gopalan [AIR 1950

SC 27 : (1950) 51 Cri LJ 1383] that if the law

provided the Bishop of Rochester “be boiled in oil” it

would be valid under Article 21. But after the

decision in Maneka Gandhi [(1978) 1 SCC 248]

which marks a watershed in the development of

constitutional law in our country, this Court, for the

first time, took the view that Article 21 affords

protection not only against the executive action but

also against the legislation which deprives a person

of his life and personal liberty unless the law for

deprivation is reasonable, just and fair. And it was

held that the concept of reasonableness runs like a

golden thread through the entire fabric of the

Constitution and it is not enough for the law to

provide some semblance of a procedure. The

procedure for depriving a person of his life and

personal liberty must be eminently just, reasonable

and fair and if challenged before the court it is for

the court to determine whether such procedure is

reasonable, just and fair and if the court finds that it

is not so, the court will strike down the same.

63. Therefore, “law” as interpreted under Article 21

by this Court is more than mere “lex”. It implies a

due process, both procedurally and substantively.”

20. Given the parameters of judicial review of legislation laid

down in these judgments, we have to see whether Section 45

can pass constitutional muster.

43

21. It is important to first set out the genesis of Section 45 as

it appeared in the Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, 1999.

In its original avatar, the precursor to Section 45, which was

Section 44 of the said Bill, read as follows:-

“44. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973,-

(a) every offence punishable under this Act shall be

cognizable;

(b) no person accused of an offence punishable for

a term of imprisonment of more than three years

under this Act shall be released on bail or on his

own bond unless-

(i) the Public Prosecutor has been given an

opportunity to oppose the application for such

release; and

(ii) where the Public Prosecutor opposes

the application, the court is satisfied that there are

reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty

of such offence and that he is not likely to commit

any offence while on bail;

Provided that a person who is under the age of

sixteen years, is a woman or is sick or infirm, may

be released on bail, if the Special Court so directs;

Provided further that the Special Court shall not

take cognizance of any offence punishable under

Section 4 except upon a complaint in writing made

by-

(i) the Director; or

(ii) any officer of the Central Government or State

Government authorized in writing in this behalf

by the Central Government by a general or a

44

special order made in this behalf by that

Government.

(2) The limitation on granting of bail specified in

clause (b) of sub-section (1) is in addition to the

limitations under the Code of Criminal Procedure,

1973 or any other law for the time being in force on

granting of bail.”

At this stage, it is clear that this Section referred only to

offences punishable under the Act itself, in which the twin

conditions for grant of bail were imposed, in addition to

limitations for such grant under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Somehow, this provision did not translate itself into dealing with

offences under the 2002 Act, but became Section 45 of the

2002 Act, which was brought into force in 2005. This provision

originally read as follows:

“45. Offences to be cognizable and non-

bailable.-

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code

of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974),-

(a) every offence punishable under this Act shall be

cognizable;

(b) no person accused of an offence punishable for

a term of imprisonment of more than three years

under Part A of the Schedule shall be released on

bail or on his own bond unless-

(i) the Public Prosecutor has been given an

opportunity to oppose the application for such

release; and

45

(ii) where the Public Prosecutor opposes the

application, the court is satisfied that there are

reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty

of such offence and that he is not likely to commit

any offence while on bail:

Provided that a person, who, is under the age of

sixteen years, or is a woman or is sick or infirm,

may be released on bail, if the Special Court so

directs:

Provided further that the Special Court shall not

take cognizance of any offence punishable under

section 4 except upon a complaint in writing made

by- (i) the Director; or (ii) any officer of the Central

Government or a State Government authorised in

writing in this behalf by the Central Government by

a general or special order made in this behalf by

that Government.

(2) The limitation on granting of bail specified in

clause (b) of sub-section (1) is in addition to the

limitations under the Code of Criminal Procedure,

1973 (2 of 1974) or any other law for the time being

in force on granting of bail.”

The change made by Section 45 is that, for the purpose of

grant of bail, what was now to be looked at was offences that

were punishable for a term of imprisonment of three years or

more under Part A of the Schedule, and not offences under the

2002 Act itself. At this stage, Part A of the Schedule contained

two paragraphs – Para 1 containing Sections 121 and 121A of

the Indian Penal Code, which deal with waging or attempting to

46

wage war or abetting waging of war against the Government of

India, and conspiracy to commit such offences. Paragraph 2

dealt with offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

Substances Act, 1985. Part B of the Schedule, as originally

enacted, referred to certain offences of a heinous nature under

the Indian Penal Code, which included murder, extortion,

kidnapping, forgery and counterfeiting. Paragraphs 2 to 5 of

Part B dealt with certain offences under the Arms Act 1959,

Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act,

1956 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. When the

Act was originally enacted, it was, thus, clear that the twin

conditions applicable under Section 45(1) would only be in

cases involving waging of war against the Government of India

and offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic

Substances Act. Even the most heinous offences under the

Indian Penal Code were contained only in Part B, so that if bail

were asked for such offences, the twin conditions imposed by

Section 45(1) would not apply. Incidentally, one of the reasons

for classifying offences in Part A and Part B of the Schedule

was that offences specified under Part B would get attracted

47

only if the total value involved in such offences was Rs.30 lakhs

or more (under Section 2(y) of the Act as it read then).

Thereafter, the Act has been amended several times. The

amendment made in 2005 in Section 45(1) was innocuous and

is not an amendment with which we are directly concerned.

The 2009 Amendment further populated Parts A and B of the

Schedule. In Part A, offences under Sections 489 A and B of

the Indian Penal Code, relating to counterfeiting were added

and offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which dealt with

terrorist activities, were added. In Part B, several other

offences were added from the Indian Penal Code, as were

offences under the Explosives Act 1884, Antiquities and Arts

Treasures Act 1972, Securities and Exchange Board of India

Act 1992, Customs Act 1962, Bonded Labour System

(Abolition) Act 1976, Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)

Act 1986, Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994, Juvenile

Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000, Emigration

Act 1983, Passports Act 1967, Foreigners Act 1946, Copyright

Act 1957, Trademarks Act 1999, Information Technology Act

48

2000, Biological Diversity Act 2002, Protection of Plant and

Farmers Rights Act 2001, Environmental Protection Act 1986,

Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution Act) 1974, Air

(Prevention and Control of Pollution Act) 1981 and Suppression

of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and

Fixed Platforms of Continental Shelf Act, 2002.

22. By the Amendment Act of 2012, which is Act 2 of 2013, a

very important amendment was made to the Schedule by which

the entire Part B offences were transplanted into Part A. The

object for this amendment, as stated in the Statement of

Objects and Reasons for the amendment in clause 3 (j),

specifically provided:

“(j) putting all the offences listed in Part A and Part

B of the Schedule to the aforesaid Act into Part A of

that Schedule instead of keeping them in two Parts

so that the provision of monetary threshold does not

apply to the offences.”

23. By the Finance Act of 2015, by Section 145, the limit of

Rs.30 lakhs in Section 2(y) was raised to Rs.1 crore and in the

Schedule after Part A, Part B was populated with only one

entry, namely Section 132 of the Customs Act. Certain other

49

amendments were made, by the Finance Act of 2016, to the

2002 Act with which we are not directly concerned.

24. The statutory history of Section 45, read with the

Schedule, would, thus show that in its original avatar, as Clause

44 of the 1999 Bill, the Section dealt only with offences under

the Act itself. Section 44 of the 2002 Act makes it clear that an

offence punishable under Section 4 of the said Act must be

tried with the connected scheduled offence from which money

laundering has taken place. The statutory scheme, as originally

enacted, with Section 45 in its present avatar, would, therefore,

lead to the same offenders in different cases having different

results qua bail depending on whether Section 45 does or does

not apply. The first would be cases where the charge would

only be of money laundering and nothing else, as would be the

case where the scheduled offence in Part A has already been

tried, and persons charged under the scheduled offence have

or have not been enlarged on bail under the Code of Criminal

Procedure and thereafter convicted or acquitted. The proceeds

of crime from such scheduled offence may well be discovered

much later in the hands of Mr. X, who now becomes charged

50

with the crime of money laundering under the 2002 Act. The

predicate or scheduled offence has already been tried and the

accused persons convicted/acquitted in this illustration, and Mr.

X now applies for bail to the Special Court/High Court. The

Special Court/High Court, in this illustration, would grant him

bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure – the

Special Court is deemed to be a Sessions Court – and can,

thus, enlarge Mr. X on bail, with or without conditions, under

Section 439. It is important to note that Mr. X would not have to

satisfy the twin conditions mentioned in Section 45 of the 2002

Act in order to be enlarged on bail, pending trial for an offence

under the 2002 Act.

25. The second illustration would be of Mr. X being charged

with an offence under the 2002 Act together with a predicate

offence contained in Part B of the Schedule. Both these

offences would be tried together. In this case, again, the

Special Court/High Court can enlarge Mr. X on bail, with or

without conditions, under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal

Procedure, as Section 45 of the 2002 Act would not apply. In a

third illustration, Mr. X can be charged under the 2002 Act

51

together with a predicate offence contained in Part A of the

Schedule in which the term for imprisonment would be 3 years

or less than 3 years (this would apply only post the Amendment

Act of 2012 when predicate offences of 3 years and less than 3

years contained in Part B were all lifted into Part A). In this

illustration, again, Mr. X would be liable to be enlarged on bail

under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the

Special Court/High Court, with or without conditions, as Section

45 of the 2002 Act would have no application.

26. The fourth illustration would be an illustration in which Mr.

X is prosecuted for an offence under the 2002 Act and an

offence punishable for a term of imprisonment of more than

three years under Part A of the Schedule. In this illustration, the

Special Court/High Court would enlarge Mr. X on bail only if the

conditions specified in Section 45(1) are satisfied and not

otherwise. In the fourth illustration, Section 45 would apply in a

joint trial of offences under the Act and under Part A of the

Schedule because the only thing that is to be seen for the

purpose of granting bail, under this Section, is the alleged

occurrence of a Part A scheduled offence, which has

52

imprisonment for over three years. The likelihood of Mr. X being

enlarged on bail in the first three illustrations is far greater than

in the fourth illustration, dependant only upon the circumstance

that Mr. X is being prosecuted for a Schedule A offence which

has imprisonment for over 3 years, a circumstance which has

no nexus with the grant of bail for the offence of money

laundering. The mere circumstance that the offence of money

laundering is being tried with the Schedule A offence without

more cannot naturally lead to the grant or denial of bail (by

applying Section 45(1)) for the offence of money laundering and

the predicate offence.

27. Again, it is quite possible that the person prosecuted for

the scheduled offence is different from the person prosecuted

for the offence under the 2002 Act. Mr. X may be a person who

is liable to be prosecuted for an offence, which is contained in

Part A of the Schedule. In perpetrating this offence under Part

A of the Schedule, Mr. X may have been paid a certain amount

of money. This money is ultimately traced to Mr. Y, who is

charged with the same offence under Part A of the Schedule

and is also charged with possession of the proceeds of crime,

53

which he now projects as being untainted. Mr. X applies for bail

to the Special Court/High Court. Despite the fact that Mr. X is

not involved in the money laundering offence, but only in the

scheduled offence, by virtue of the fact that the two sets of

offences are being tried together, Mr. X would be denied bail

because the money laundering offence is being tried along with

the scheduled offence, for which Mr. Y alone is being

prosecuted. This illustration would show that a person who

may have nothing to do with the offence of money laundering

may yet be denied bail, because of the twin conditions that

have to be satisfied under Section 45(1) of the 2002 Act. Also,

Mr. A may well be prosecuted for an offence which falls within

Part A of the Schedule, but which does not involve money

laundering. Such offences would be liable to be tried under the

Code of Criminal Procedure, and despite the fact that it may be

the very same Part A scheduled offence given in the illustration

above, the fact that no prosecution for money laundering along

with the said offence is launched, would enable Mr. A to get bail

without the rigorous conditions contained in Section 45 of the

2002 Act. All these examples show that manifestly arbitrary,

54

discriminatory and unjust results would arise on the application

or non application of Section 45, and would directly violate

Articles 14 and 21, inasmuch as the procedure for bail would

become harsh, burdensome, wrongful and discriminatory

depending upon whether a person is being tried for an offence

which also happens to be an offence under Part A of the

Schedule, or an offence under Part A of the Schedule together

with an offence under the 2002 Act. Obviously, the grant of bail

would depend upon a circumstance which has nothing to do

with the offence of money laundering. On this ground alone,

Section 45 would have to be struck down as being manifestly

arbitrary and providing a procedure which is not fair or just and

would, thus, violate both Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

28. Another interesting feature of Section 45 is that the twin

conditions that need to be satisfied under the said Section are

that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the

accused is not guilty of “such offence” and that he is not likely

to commit any offence while on bail. The expression “such

offence” would be relatable only to an offence in Part A of the

Schedule. Thus, in an application made for bail, where the

55

offence of money laundering is involved, if Section 45 is to be

applied, the Court must be satisfied that there are reasonable

grounds for believing that he is not guilty of the offence under

Part A of the Schedule, which is not the offence of money

laundering, but which is a completely different offence. In

every other Act, where these twin conditions are laid down, be it

the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 or

the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the

reasonable grounds for believing that the accused is not guilty

of an offence is in relation to an offence under the very Act in

which such section occurs. (See for example, Section 20(8) of

TADA and Section 37 of the NDPS Act). It is only in the 2002

Act that the twin conditions laid down do not relate to an

offence under the 2002 Act at all, but only to a separate and

distinct offence found under Part A of the Schedule. Obviously,

the twin conditions laid down in Section 45 would have no

nexus whatsoever with a bail application which concerns itself

with the offence of money laundering, for if Section 45 is to

apply, the Court does not apply its mind to whether the person

prosecuted is guilty of the offence of money laundering, but

56

instead applies its mind to whether such person is guilty of the

scheduled or predicate offence. Bail would be denied on

grounds germane to the scheduled or predicate offence,

whereas the person prosecuted would ultimately be punished

for a completely different offence - namely, money laundering.

This, again, is laying down of a condition which has no nexus

with the offence of money laundering at all, and a person who

may prove that there are reasonable grounds for believing that

he is not guilty of the offence of money laundering may yet be

denied bail, because he is unable to prove that there are

reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of the

scheduled or predicate offence. This would again lead to a

manifestly arbitrary, discriminatory and unjust result which

would invalidate the Section.

29. It is important to notice that Section 45 classifies the

predicate offence under Part A of the Schedule on the basis of

sentencing. The learned Attorney General referred to a number

of judgments in which classification on this basis has been

upheld. It is unnecessary to refer to these judgments inasmuch

as the classification of three years or more of offences

57

contained in Part A of the Schedule must have a reasonable

relation to the object sought to be achieved under the 2002 Act.

As has already been pointed out, the 2002 Act was enacted so

that property involved in money laundering may be attached

and brought back into the economy, as also that persons guilty

of the offence of money laundering must be brought to book. It

is interesting to note that even in the recent 2015 amendment,

the Legislature has used the value involved in the offence

contained in Part B of the Schedule as a basis for classification.

If, for example, the basis for classification of offences referred

to and related to offences under the 2002 Act with a monetary

limit beyond which such offences would be made out, such

classification would obviously have a rational relation to the

object sought to be achieved by the Act i.e. to attach properties

and the money involved in money laundering and to bring

persons involved in the offence of money laundering to book.

On the other hand, it is clear that the term of imprisonment of

more than 3 years for a scheduled or predicate offence would

be a manifestly arbitrary and unjust classification, having no

rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by an Act

58

dealing with money laundering. Again a few illustrations would

suffice to prove the point.

30. An extremely heinous offence, such as murder,

punishable with death or life imprisonment, which is now

contained in Part A of the Schedule may yield only Rs.5,000/-

as proceeds of crime. On the other hand, an offence relating to

a false declaration under Section 132 of the Customs Act,

punishable with a sentence of upto 2 years, which is an offence

under Part B of the Schedule, may lead to proceeds of crime in

crores of rupees. In short, a classification based on sentence

of imprisonment of more than three years of an offence

contained in Part A of the Schedule, which is a predicate

offence, would have no rational relation to the object of

attaching and bringing back into the economy large amounts by

way of proceeds of crime. When it comes to Section 45, it is

clear that a classification based on sentencing qua a scheduled

offence would have no rational relation with the grant of bail for

the offence of money laundering, as has been shown in the

preceding paragraphs of this judgment. Even in the judgments

citied by the learned Attorney General, it is clear that a

59

classification is justified only if it is not manifestly arbitrary. For

example, in Special Courts Bill, 1978, In re, (1979) 1 SCC

380, a judgment cited by the learned Attorney General,

proposition 9 contained at page 425 states:

“If the legislative policy is clear and definite and as

an effective method of carrying out that policy a

discretion is vested by the statute upon a body of

administrators or officers to make selective

application of the law to certain classes or groups of

persons, the statute itself cannot be condemned as

a piece of discriminatory legislation. In such cases,

the power given to the executive body would import

a duty on it to classify the subject-matter of

legislation in accordance with the objective

indicated in the statute. If the administrative body

proceeds to classify persons or things on a basis

which has no rational relation to the objective of the

Legislature, its action can be annulled as offending

against the equal protection clause. On the other

hand, if the statute itself does not disclose a definite

policy or objective and it confers authority on

another to make selection at its pleasure, the

statute would be held on the face of it to be

discriminatory, irrespective of the way in which it is

applied.”

It is clear from a reading of this judgment that offences based

on sentencing of the scheduled offence would have no rational

relation to the object of the 2002 Act and to the granting of bail

for offences committed under the Act, and, therefore, have to

be annulled on the basis of the equal protection clause.

60

31. When we go to Part A of the Schedule as it now exists, it

is clear that there are many sections under the Indian Penal

Code punishable with life imprisonment which are not included

in Part A of the Schedule, and which may yet lead to proceeds

of crime. For example, Sections 232 and 238 of the Indian

Penal Code, which deal with counterfeiting of Indian coin and

import or export of counterfeited Indian coin, are punishable

with life imprisonment. These sections are not included in Part

A of the Schedule, and a person who may counterfeit Indian

coin is liable to be tried under the Code of Criminal Procedure

with conditions as to bail under Section 439 being imposed by

the High Court or the Sessions Court. As against this, a

person who counterfeits Government stamps under Section

255 is roped into Part A of the Schedule, which is also

punishable with life imprisonment. If such person is to apply for

bail, the twin conditions contained in Section 45 would apply to

him. Similar is the case with offences where a punishment of

maximum of 10 years is given. Section 240 dealing with

delivery of Indian coin possessed with knowledge that it is

counterfeit; Section 251 dealing with delivery of Indian coin

61

possessed with knowledge that it is altered; Sections 372 and

373 which deal with the selling and buying of minors for the

purpose of prostitution, are all offences which are outside Part

A of the Schedule and are punishable with the maximum of 10

years sentence. Each of these offences may involve money

laundering, but not being in Part A of the Schedule, a person

prosecuted for these offences would be able to obtain bail

under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, without

any further conditions attached. On the other hand, if a person

is charged with extortion under Sections 386 or 388, (such

sections being included in Part A of the Schedule) and Section

4 of the 2002 Act, the person prosecuted under these sections

would only be able to obtain bail after meeting the stringent

conditions specified in Section 45. This is yet another

circumstance which makes the application of Section 45 to the

offence of money laundering and the predicate offence

manifestly arbitrary.

32. When we come to paragraph 2 of Part A of the Schedule,

this becomes even more apparent. Sections 19, 24, 27A and

29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,

62

1985 are all sections which deal with narcotic drugs and

psychotropic substances where a person is found with, what is

defined as, “commercial quantity” of such substances. In each

of these cases, under Section 37 of the NDPS Act, a person

prosecuted for these offences has to meet the same twin

conditions which are contained in Section 45 of the 2002 Act.

Inasmuch as these Sections attract the twin conditions under

the NDPS Act in any case, it was wholly unnecessary to include

them again in paragraph 2 of Part A of the Schedule, for when

a person is prosecuted for an offence under Sections 19, 24,

27A or 29 of the NDPS Act, together with an offence under

Section 4 of the 2002 Act, Section 37 of the NDPS Act would, in

any case, be attracted when such person is seeking bail for

offences committed under the 2002 Act and the NDPS Act.

33. Also, the classification contained within the NDPS Act is

completely done away with. Unequals are dealt with as if they

are now equals. The offences under the NDPS Act ar e

classified on the basis of the quantity of narcotic drugs and

psychotropic substances that the accused is found with, which

are categorized as: (1) a small quantity, as defined; (2) a

63

quantity which is above small quantity, but below commercial

quantity, as defined; and (3) above commercial quantity, as

defined. The sentences of these offences vary from 1 year for

a person found with small quantity, to 10 years for a person

found with something between small and commercial quantity,

and a minimum of 10 years upto 20 years when a person is

found with commercial quantity. The twin conditions specified

in Section 37 of the NDPS Act get attracted when bail is asked

for only insofar as persons who have commercial quantities

with them are concerned. A person found with a small quantity

or with a quantity above small quantity, but below commercial

quantity, punishable with a one year sentence or a 10 year

sentence respectively, can apply for bail under Section 439 of

the Code of Criminal Procedure without satisfying the same

twin conditions as are contained in Section 45 of the 2002 Act,

under Section 37 of the NDPS Act. By assimilating all these

three contraventions and bracketing them together, the 2002

Act treats as equal offences which are treated as unequal by

the NDPS Act itself, when it comes to imposition of the further

twin conditions for grant of bail. This is yet another manifestly

64

arbitrary and discriminatory feature of the application of Section

45.

34. A reference to paragraph 23 of Part A of the Schedule

would also show how Section 45 can be used for an offence

under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. If a person covered

under the Act obtains, without the previous approval of the

National Biodiversity Authority, any biological resources

occurring in India for research or for commercial utilization, he

is liable to be punished for imprisonment for a term which may

extend to 5 years under Section 55 of the Act. A breach of this

provision, when combined with an offence under Section 4 of

the 2002 Act, would lead to bail being obtained only if the twin

conditions in Section 45 of the 2002 Act are satisfied. By no

stretch of imagination can this kind of an offence be considered

as so serious as to lead to the twin conditions in Section 45

having to be satisfied before grant of bail, even assuming that

classification on the basis of sentence has a rational relation to

the grant of bail after complying with Section 45 of the 2002

Act.

65

35. Another conundrum that arises is that, unlike the Terrorist

and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987, there is no

provision in the 2002 Act which excludes grant of anticipatory

bail. Anticipatory bail can be granted in circumstances set out

in Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre v. State of Maharashtra,

(2011) 1 SCC 694 (See paragraphs 109, 112 and 117). Thus,

anticipatory bail may be granted to a person who is prosecuted

for the offence of money laundering together with an offence

under Part A of the Schedule, which may last throughout the

trial. Obviously for grant of such bail, Section 45 does not need

to be satisfied, as only a person arrested under Section 19 of

the Act can only be released on bail after satisfying the

conditions of Section 45. But insofar as pre-arrest bail is

concerned, Section 45 does not apply on its own terms. This,

again, would lead to an extremely anomalous situation. If pre-

arrest bail is granted to Mr. X, which enures throughout the trial,

for an offence under Part A of the Schedule and Section 4 of

the 2002 Act, such person will be out on bail without his having

satisfied the twin conditions of Section 45. However, if in an

identical situation, Mr. Y is prosecuted for the same offences,

66

but happens to be arrested, and then applies for bail, the twin

conditions of Section 45 will have first to be met. This again

leads to an extremely anomalous situation showing that Section

45 leads to manifestly arbitrary and unjust results and would,

therefore, violate Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

36. However, the learned Attorney General has argue d

before us that we must uphold Section 45 as it is part of a

complete code under the 2002 Act. According to him, Section

45, when read with Sections 3 and 4, would necessarily lead to

the conclusion that the source of the proceeds of crime, being

the scheduled offence, and the money laundering offence,

would have to be tried together, and the nexus that is provided

is because the source of money laundering being as important

as money laundering itself, conditions under Section 45 would

have to be applied. We are afraid that, for all the reasons

given by us earlier in this judgment, we are unable to agree.

The learned Attorney General asked us to read down Section

45 in that when the Court is satisfied that there are reasonable

grounds for believing that a person is not guilty of an offence, it

only meant that the Court must prima facie come to such a

67

conclusion. Secondly, the fact that he is not likely to commit

“any offence” while on bail would only be restricted to any

offence of a like nature. Again, we are afraid that merely

reading down the two conditions would not get rid of the vice of

manifest arbitrariness and discrimination, as has been pointed

out by us hereinabove. Also, we cannot agree with the learned

Attorney General that Section 45 imposes two conditions which

are akin to conditions that are specified for grant of ordinary

bail. For this purpose, he referred us to Amarmani Tripathi

(supra) at para 18, in which it was stated that, for grant of bail,

the Court has to see whether there is prima facie or reasonable

ground to believe that the accused has committed the offence,

and the likelihood of that offence being repeated has also be

seen. It is obvious that the twin conditions set down in Section

45 are a much higher threshold bar than any of the conditions

laid down in paragraph 18 of the aforesaid judgment. In fact,

the presumption of innocence, which is attached to any person

being prosecuted of an offence, is inverted by the conditions

specified in Section 45, whereas for grant of ordinary bail the

presumption of innocence attaches, after which the various

68

factors set out in paragraph 18 of the judgment are to be looked

at. Under Section 45, the Court must be satisfied that there are

reasonable grounds to believe that the person is not guilty

of

such offence and that he is not likely to commit any offence

while on bail.

37. In United States v. Anthony Salerno & Vincent Cafaro

481 US 739 (1987), a provision of the Bail Reform Act of 1984,

which allowed a Federal Court to permit pre-trial detention on

the ground that the person arrested is likely to commit future

crimes, had been declared unconstitutional as offending

substantive due process by the United States Court of Appeals

for the Second Circuit. A majority of the US Supreme Court

reversed this judgment with reference to both substantive due

process and to the 8

th

amendment to the US Constitution. The

majority judgment concluded:

“In our society liberty is the norm, and detention

prior to trial or without trial is the carefully limited

exception. We hold that the provisions for pretrial

detention in the Bail Reform Act of 1984 fall within

that carefully limited exception. The Act authorizes

the detention prior to trial of arrestees charged with

serious felonies who are found after an adversary

hearing to pose a threat to the safety of individuals

or to the community which no condition of release

69

can dispel. The numerous procedural safeguards

detailed above must attend this adversary hearing.

We are unwilling to say that this congressional

determination, based as it is upon that primary

concern of every government—a concern for the

safety and indeed the lives of its citizens—on its

face violates either the Due Process Clause of the

Fifth Amendment or the Excessive Bail Clause of

the Eighth Amendment.”

In a sharply worded minority judgment of Justice Marshall, with

whom Justice Brennan agreed, the minority held that the Bail

Reform Act, which permitted pre-trial detention on the ground

that the person arrested is likely to commit future crimes would

violate substantive due process and the 8

th

amendment to the

US Constitution. This it did with reference to an earlier

judgment, namely, Stack v. Boyle, 342 US 1, where Chief

Justice Vinson stated that unless pre-trial bail is preserved, the

presumption of innocence secured only after centuries of

struggle would lose its meaning. The dissenting judgment

concluded:

"It is a fair summary of history to say that the

safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in

controversies involving not very nice people."

United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69, 70

S.Ct. 430, 436, 94 L.Ed. 653 (1950) (Frankfurter, J.,

dissenting). Honoring the presumption of innocence

is often difficult; sometimes we must pay substantial

social costs as a result of our commitment to the

70

values we espouse. But at the end of the day the

presumption of innocence protects the innocent; the

shortcuts we take with those whom we believe to be

guilty injure only those wrongfully accused and,

ultimately, ourselves.”

Justice Stevens also dissented, agreeing with Justice

Marshall’s analysis.

38. We must not forget that Section 45 is a drastic provision

which turns on its head the presumption of innocence which is

fundamental to a person accused of any offence. Before

application of a section which makes drastic inroads into the

fundamental right of personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of

the Constitution of India, we must be doubly sure that such

provision furthers a compelling State interest for tackling

serious crime. Absent any such compelling State interest, the

indiscriminate application of the provisions of Section 45 will

certainly violate Article 21 of the Constitution. Provisions akin to

Section 45 have only been upheld on the ground that there is a

compelling State interest in tackling crimes of an extremely

heinous nature.

71

39. The judgment in Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab, (1994)

3 SCC 569 at 707 is an instance of a similar provision that was

upheld only because it was necessary for the State to deal with

terrorist activities which are a greater menace to modern

society than any other. It needs only to be mentioned that,

unlike Section 45 of the present Act, Section 20(8) of TADA,

which speaks of the same twin conditions to be applied to

offences under TADA

, would pass constitutional muster for the

reasons stated in the aforesaid judgment. Ultimately, in

paragraph 349 of the judgment, this Court upheld Section 20(8)

of TADA in the following terms:

“349. The conditions imposed under Section

20(8)(b), as rightly pointed out by the Additional

Solicitor General, are in consonance with the

conditions prescribed under clauses (i) and (ii) of

sub-section (1) of Section 437 and clause (b) of

sub-section (3) of that section. Similar to the

conditions in clause (b) of sub-section (8), there are

provisions in various other enactments — such as

Section 35(1) of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act

and Section 104(1) of the Customs Act to the effect

that any authorised or empowered officer under the

respective Acts, if, has got reason to believe that

any person in India or within the Indian customs

waters has been guilty of an offence punishable

under the respective Acts, may arrest such person.

Therefore, the condition that “there are grounds for

believing that he is not guilty of an offence”, which

72

condition in different form is incorporated in other

Acts such as clause (i) of Section 437(1) of the

Code and Section 35(1) of FERA and 104(1) of the

Customs Act, cannot be said to be an unreasonable

condition infringing the principle of Article 21 of the

Constitution.”

It is clear that this Court upheld such a condition only because

the offence under TADA was a most heinous offence in which

the vice of terrorism is sought to be tackled. Given the heinous

nature of the offence which is punishable by death or life

imprisonment, and given the fact that the Special Court in that

case was a Magistrate and not a Sessions Court, unlike the

present case, Section 20(8) of TADA was upheld as being in

consonance with conditions prescribed under Section 437 of

the Code of Criminal Procedure. In the present case, it is

Section 439 and not Section 437 of the Code of Criminal

Procedure that applies. Also, the offence that is spoken of in

Section 20(8) is an offence under TADA itself and not an

offence under some other Act. For all these reasons, the

judgment in Kartar Singh (supra) cannot apply to Section 45 of

the present Act.

73

40. A similar provision in the Maharashtra Control of

Organised Crime Act, 1999, also dealing with the great menace

of organized crime to society, was upheld somewhat grudgingly

by this Court in Ranjitsing Brahmajeetsing Sharma v. State

of Maharashtra and Anr, (2005) 5 SCC 294 at 317, 318-319

as follows:

“38. We are furthermore of the opinion that the

restrictions on the power of the court to grant bail

should not be pushed too far. If the court, having

regard to the materials brought on record, is

satisfied that in all probability he may not be

ultimately convicted, an order granting bail may be

passed. The satisfaction of the court as regards his

likelihood of not committing an offence while on bail

must be construed to mean an offence under the

Act and not any offence whatsoever be it a minor or

major offence. If such an expansive meaning is

given, even likelihood of commission of an offence

under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code may

debar the court from releasing the accused on bail.

A statute, it is trite, should not be interpreted in such

a manner as would lead to absurdity. What would

further be necessary on the part of the court is to

see the culpability of the accused and his

involvement in the commission of an organised

crime either directly or indirectly. The court at the

time of considering the application for grant of bail

shall consider the question from the angle as to

whether he was possessed of the requisite mens

rea. Every little omission or commission, negligence

or dereliction may not lead to a possibility of his

having culpability in the matter which is not the sine

qua non for attracting the provisions of MCOCA. A

person in a given situation may not do that which he

74

ought to have done. The court may in a situation of

this nature keep in mind the broad principles of law

that some acts of omission and commission on the

part of a public servant may attract disciplinary

proceedings but may not attract a penal provision.”

The Court then went on to say:

“44. The wording of Section 21(4), in our opinion,

does not lead to the conclusion that the court must

arrive at a positive finding that the applicant for bail

has not committed an offence under the Act. If such

a construction is placed, the court intending to grant

bail must arrive at a finding that the applicant has

not committed such an offence. In such an event, it

will be impossible for the prosecution to obtain a

judgment of conviction of the applicant. Such cannot

be the intention of the legislature. Section 21(4) of

MCOCA, therefore, must be construed reasonably.

It must be so construed that the court is able to

maintain a delicate balance between a judgment of

acquittal and conviction and an order granting bail

much before commencement of trial. Similarly, the

court will be required to record a finding as to the

possibility of his committing a crime after grant of

bail. However, such an offence in futuro must be an

offence under the Act and not any other offence.

Since it is difficult to predict the future conduct of an

accused, the court must necessarily consider this

aspect of the matter having regard to the

antecedents of the accused, his propensities and

the nature and manner in which he is alleged to

have committed the offence.”

41. The learned Attorney General relied heavily on Section 24

of the 2002 Act to show that the burden of proof in any

proceeding relating to proceeds of crime is upon the person

75

charged with the offence of money laundering, and in the case

of any other person i.e. a person not charged with such offence,

the Court may presume that such proceeds are involved in

money laundering. Section 45 of the Act only speaks of the

scheduled offence in Part A of the Schedule, whereas Section

24 speaks of the offence of money laundering, and raises a

presumption against the person prosecuted for the crime of

money laundering. This presumption has no application to the

scheduled offence mentioned in Section 45, and cannot,

therefore, advance the case of the Union of India.

42. The learned Attorney General then relied strongly on

Gautam Kundu (supra) and Rohit Tandon (supra). Gautam

Kundu (supra) is a judgment relating to an offence under the

SEBI Act, which is a scheduled offence, which was followed in

Rohit Tandon (supra). In Rohit Tandon (supra),

Khanwilkar, J., speaking for the Bench, makes it clear that the

judgment does not deal with the constitutional validity of

Section 45 of the 2002 Act. Both these judgments proceed on

the footing that Section 45 is constitutionally valid and then go

on to apply Section 45 on the facts of those cases. These

76

judgments, therefore, are not of much assistance when it

comes to the constitutional validity of Section 45 being

challenged.

43. Shri Rohatgi’s alternate argument, namely, that if Section

45 were not to be struck down, the 2012 Amendment Act

should be read down in the manner indicated in Gorav

Kathuria v. Union of India and Ors., 2017 (348) ELT 24 (P &

H) and having been expressly approved by this Court, must

apply to the facts of these cases.

44. In Gorav Kathuria (supra), the 2012 Amendment Act was

read down having regard to the object sought to be achieved by

the amendment, namely, that Part B of the Schedule is being

made Part A of the Schedule, so that the provision of a

monetary threshold limit does not apply to the offences

contained therein. The High Court concluded:

“12.20 Guided by the aforesaid principles laid down

by the Hon'ble Supreme Court regarding statutory

interpretation and the duty of the Court to secure

the ends of justice, we have no hesitation in holding

that in 2013, Part B of the Schedule was omitted

and the Scheduled Offences falling thereunder were

incorporated in Part A with the sole object to

overcome the monetary threshold limit of Rs. 30

lakhs for invocation of PMLA in respect of the

77

laundering of proceeds of crime involved in those

offences. No substantive amendment was proposed

with express intention to apply limitations on grant

of bail as contained in Section 45(1) in respect of

persons accused of such offences which were

earlier listed in Part B. Therefore, twin limitations in

grant of bail contained in Section 45(1) as it stands

today, are not applicable qua a person accused of

such offences which were earlier listed in Part B.”

The matter came to this Court by a certificate of fitness granted

by the High Court. Sikri, J and Ramana, J., by their order dated

12

th

August, 2016, stated:

“Though the High Court has granted certificate to

appeal, we have heard the learned counsel for

some time and are of the opinion that the impugned

judgment of the High Court is correct.

This appeal is, accordingly, dismissed.”

The complaint of the learned Attorney General is that this was

done at the very threshold without hearing the Union of India.

Be that as it may, we are of the opinion that, even though the

Punjab High Court judgment appears to be correct, it is

unnecessary for us to go into this aspect any further, in view of

the fact that we have struck down Section 45 of the 2002 Act as

a whole.

78

45. Regard being had to the above, we declare Section 45(1)

of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, insofar as it

imposes two further conditions for release on bail, to be

unconstitutional as it violates Articles 14 and 21 of the

Constitution of India. All the matters before us in which bail

has been denied, because of the presence of the twi n

conditions contained in Section 45, will now go back to the

respective Courts which denied bail. All such orders are set

aside, and the cases remanded to the respective Courts to be

heard on merits, without application of the twin conditions

contained in Section 45 of the 2002 Act. Considering that

persons are languishing in jail and that personal liberty is

involved, all these matters are to be taken up at the earliest by

the respective Courts for fresh decision. The writ petitions and

the appeals are disposed of accordingly.

…………………………......J.

(R.F. Nariman)

…………………………......J.

(Sanjay Kishan Kaul)

New Delhi;

November 23, 2017.