New Delhi, Aug 11 A court here has refused transit anticipatory bail to a man wanted in a cyber-fraud case registered in Chhattisgarh, saying he cannot seek protection from a Delhi court merely on the basis of a short hotel stay in the city.
Additional Sessions Judge Samar Vishal was hearing an application filed by Sulender Shah seeking transit anticipatory bail to enable him to approach a court in Chhattisgarh, where an FIR has been registered against him.
In an order dated August 10, the court said, "A temporary stay in a hotel, without any accompanying material showing ordinary residence, employment, occupation, profession or another genuine connection with the locality, cannot by itself confer territorial jurisdiction upon this court for entertaining an application for transit anticipatory bail."
Shah claimed that he was residing in Malviya Nagar. However, the investigating agency told the court that the address cited by him was based only on a two-night booking at a Delhi hotel and did not establish that he was a resident of the city.
The agency argued that the accused had checked into the hotel only to create grounds for filing the bail plea in Delhi, instead of approaching the appropriate court in Chhattisgarh.
The court agreed with the objection and noted that the accused had not produced any document showing that he lived, worked, carried on business or had any other genuine connection with Delhi.
"Acceptance of such a basis would permit an accused to select a court of convenience merely by temporarily checking into accommodation within its jurisdiction. This would reduce the requirement of territorial proximity to an empty formality and encourage precisely the forum shopping against which the Hon'ble Supreme Court has cautioned," the judge said.
Calling the plea a "classic instance of forum shopping", the court held that the applicant had failed to establish any genuine territorial nexus with Delhi and dismissed the application.
"The material placed on record instead indicates that the application has been filed on the strength of a transient hotel stay. The present application, therefore, appears to be a classic instance of forum shopping and an abuse of the process of the court," the judge said.
The judge clarified that the order did not deal with the merits of the allegations against Shah and would not affect any remedy available to him before a court having proper jurisdiction.
