Hon’ble single-judge bench at Bombay High Court held as follows,
Arunkumar N Chaturvedi vs The State of Maharashtra and Anr on 24 Dec 20134 Since the Applicant was ready to appear before the Magistrate after cancellation of warrant and since there was reasonable apprehension in the mind of the Applicant that he might be put beyond the bars if he appeared before cancellation of warrant, the learned Magistrate should have considered the application on merits.
5 In my considered opinion, there is no law that the accused shall personally remain present for cancellation of warrant. If the lawyer makes an application for cancellation of warrant, the same needs to be considered on merits by the learned Magistrate without insisting the for appearance of the Applicant/accused. It is noted by this Court that many Writ Petitions are filed in this Court only because the learned Magistrate straight way take a view that warrant cannot be cancelled unless accused appears before the Court. The view taken by a few of the Magistrates particularly in the city of Bombay, in my opinion, is not correct. It is high time that this Court lets the Magistrate note that the appearance of the applicant/accused is not necessary when application for cancellation of warrant is made.
Citations : [2013 SCC ONLINE BOM 1607]
Other Sources :
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/58117fdb2713e1794795896e
https://mynation.net/docs/4429-2013/
https://www.lawyerservices.in/Arunkumar-N-Chaturvedi-Versus-The-State-of-Maharashtra-and-Another-2013-12-24
Index here.