Foreigners jumping bail: SC asks Centre to lay down procedure to deal with them

Alarmed by frequent instances of foreign nationals accused of crimes vanishing after jumping bail, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre to put in place a proper procedure to deal with such cases.

The top court was dealing with an appeal by the state of Jharkhand challenging Dr Alex David @ MU Henry – a Nigerian national – who was untraceable after being granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in a cyberfraud case.

“This is not a lone incident which has come before this Court and such cases are not uncommon. Therefore, a procedure has to be laid down, if not already there, as to how such a situation is to be dealt with and the procedures to be followed,” a Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah said in its November 12 order.

On behalf of the Centre, advocate Kanu Agrawal told the Bench that the Union of India was already working upon the matter and will apprise this top court as to the procedure they were to follow.

The Bench asked the Centre to inform about the procedure to be followed in such cases in two weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on November 26.

The Jharkhand High Court had on May 13, 2022 granted bail to David on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 10,000 with two sureties in the like amount, noting that he had been in jail since January 6, 2020. The state government – which challenged the bail granted to the Nigerian national – told the Supreme Court that the accused had jumped bail and was untraceable.

David – an employee of one Sunita Ghosh -- was charged with cheating, criminal conspiracy and other offences under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 & 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act in connection with an FIR lodged in 2019 at Cyber Police Station in Jharkhand for allegedly duping a person of lakhs of rupees in connection with supply of herbal oil.