Merits of case while passing order on anticipatory bail appl

Supreme Court: Dealing with the question of granting anticipatory bail, the Single Judge bench of hon'ble K.S. Radhkrishnan J., held that a case where the investigation is still not over is not a fit case for granting anticipatory bail. In the present case, the Additional Sessions Judge granted anticipatory bail despite the fact that the gun through which the gunshot was fired was not recovered, the accused were not cooperative with the Investigation Officer, nor was the investigation complete. Apart from this, while granting bail, he also concluded that no case was made out under Section 326 of IPC, 1860 by merely looking at the medical reports. A key question of law that arose for consideration was whether an Additional Sessions Judge can express his opinion about the merits of the case while deciding a matter of anticipatory bail when the investigation is still pending. Deciding the question, the Supreme Court held that it was incorrect on part of the Additional Sessions Judge to express opinion about the merits of the case at this stage