Reform bail law, but make the right diagnosis first
2 years, 4 months ago

Reform bail law, but make the right diagnosis first

The Hindu  

Over 75% of India’s prison population are undertrials while overcrowding in Indian prisons stands at 118%. Challenges in bail compliance A large number of undertrials continue to remain in prison despite being granted bail due to challenges in complying with bail conditions. Lack of means to arrange for money/property and local sureties are the most significant reasons accounting for an undertrial’s inability to comply with bail conditions, realities borne out by our experience in the FTP. However, factors such as lack of residence and identity proof, abandonment by family and limitations in navigating the court system also undermine an undertrial’s ability to comply with bail conditions. Compliance with bail conditions and ensuring presence in courts for the overwhelmingly structurally disadvantaged undertrials requires constant handholding, as is evident by the FTP’s interventions in the past three years.

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History of this topic

Requirement Of Expeditious Trial Must Be Read Into Special Statutes Imposing Stringent Bail Provisions : Supreme Court
2 months, 3 weeks ago

Requirement Of Expeditious Trial Must Be Read Into Special Statutes Imposing Stringent Bail Provisions : Supreme Court

Live Law  

The Supreme Court while granting bail to former Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji, held that higher thresholds for granting bail in stringent penal statutes like the PMLA, UAPA, and NDPS Act cannot be a tool to keep an accused incarcerated without trial. I t is a well settled principle of our criminal jurisprudence that “bail is the rule, and jail …

A wave of SC verdicts declaw PMLA’s stringent bail provision
3 months, 3 weeks ago

A wave of SC verdicts declaw PMLA’s stringent bail provision

The Hindu  

A wave of Supreme Court judgments has seen the declawing of a stringent bail provision under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act while emphasising that liberty is the rule while jail is an exception. Justice Viswanathan, while granting bail to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s aide Prem Prakash bail under the PMLA, explained that Section 45 cannot be used to …

No better advice than one’s own
5 months ago

No better advice than one’s own

Hindustan Times  

Personal liberty is one of the cornerstones of a robust democracy. New Delhi, India - July 18, 2024: A view of supreme court of India as the court has hearing upon NEET Paper leak case in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. The latest instance came this week, when the apex court condemned the practice of higher courts …

Bail reforms: What are bail conditions and how do they affect the accused person's rights?
5 months, 1 week ago

Bail reforms: What are bail conditions and how do they affect the accused person's rights?

Hindustan Times  

A Nigerian foreign national facing trial under sections of the NDPS Act, punishable with seven years or more, was granted conditional bail after spending eight years in prison from 2014 to 2022. These provisions empower courts to deem an accused 'indigent' if they fail to meet bail conditions within seven days of their grant, thereby enabling the court to reconsider …

Shortening the gap between bail and release
9 months ago

Shortening the gap between bail and release

Hindustan Times  

Bail proceedings stand at the crossroads of constitutionally guaranteed personal liberty, and the demands of criminal law that often infringe upon it. The court’s duty to safeguard liberty does not end with a mere grant of bail but extends to ensuring prompt compliance with procedure, to secure immediate release. The Supreme Court has repeatedly cautioned against imposition of onerous bail …

Justice Ramkumar Reviews India's Latest Criminal Justice Law
9 months, 1 week ago

Justice Ramkumar Reviews India's Latest Criminal Justice Law

Live Law  

My comments: - This again is a welcome provision provided it is effective and foolproof. Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, irrespective of the area where the offence is committed, may be given orally or by electronic communication to an officer in charge of a police station, and if given— orally, it shall be reduced to …

Bail Conditions Imposed By Courts Must Be Realistic Considering Socio-Economic Background Of Accused : Supreme Court
1 year, 4 months ago

Bail Conditions Imposed By Courts Must Be Realistic Considering Socio-Economic Background Of Accused : Supreme Court

Live Law  

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, indicated that courts should impose realistic conditions of bail considering the economic and social position of the undertrial prisons or else the act of grant of bail does not subserve its purpose. A Bench comprising Justice SK Kaul and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia observed the same while hearing a suo moto writ petition instituted for the …

Must expedite conclusion of trials under special laws: Supreme Court
1 year, 8 months ago

Must expedite conclusion of trials under special laws: Supreme Court

Hindustan Times  

Trials involving special laws with stringent bail provisions must be concluded speedily, the Supreme Court said in a recent judgment and directed courts to be sensitive to the fact that incarceration has deleterious effects on undertrials and if the trial is not concluded in time, the injustice inflicted on the individual is immeasurable. Trials involving special laws with stringent bail …

Supreme Court Issues Directions For Timely Release Of Prisoners After Getting Bail
1 year, 10 months ago

Supreme Court Issues Directions For Timely Release Of Prisoners After Getting Bail

Live Law  

The Supreme Court has issued the following guidelines on the issue of undertrial prisoners who continue to be in custody despite having been granted the benefit of bail on account of their inability to fulfill the conditions stipulated in the bail order or otherwise. “1)The Court which grants bail to an undertrial prisoner/convict would be required to send a soft …

Right To File Bail Plea Sans Delay & Access To Legal Aid 'Intertwined': Allahabad HC Suggests Positive Measures For Undertrial Prisoners
2 years, 3 months ago

Right To File Bail Plea Sans Delay & Access To Legal Aid 'Intertwined': Allahabad HC Suggests Positive Measures For Undertrial Prisoners

Live Law  

Emphasizing that the rights to file a bail without delay and access to legal aid of an eligible prisoner are intertwined, the Allahabad High Court on Monday suggested some significant positive measures so as to overcome the delay in filing of bail pleas by undertrial prisoners in absence of proper legal aid. "The right of moving a bail application becomes …

Fortify the justice system to ensure bail is the norm
2 years, 4 months ago

Fortify the justice system to ensure bail is the norm

Hindustan Times  

The Supreme Court ’s intervention, in granting protection to Mohammed Zubair and Nupur Sharma, does not make for an understanding of the criminal justice administration in India, for not many citizens are fortunate enough to have effective legal representation and the benefit of being heard by libertarian judges in the jurisdiction of SC. On an earlier occasion too, the Chief …

Cart before the horse: on bail law in India
2 years, 5 months ago

Cart before the horse: on bail law in India

The Hindu  

Two recent pronouncements, one a judicial order and another a public speech by the Chief Justice of India, have drawn attention to the manner in which bail law operates in the country. While the Supreme Court, in Satender Kumar Antil vs CBI, has sought to expand the scope for the grant of early bail to those arrested without sufficient cause, …

Explained: The laws governing bail in India and what changes does the Supreme Court want
2 years, 5 months ago

Explained: The laws governing bail in India and what changes does the Supreme Court want

Firstpost  

Lamenting that jails across the country were flooded with undertrial prisoners, the apex court urged the Centre to introduce reforms in the bail laws. It stated that bail applications should be disposed of within two weeks while those for anticipatory bail be decided within six weeks There can never be an impression that India is a police state, the Supreme …

Bring a new Act on bails, Supreme Court tells Centre
2 years, 5 months ago

Bring a new Act on bails, Supreme Court tells Centre

The Hindu  

Asking the Centre to bring a new Act exclusively to simplify and streamline bails, the Supreme Court on Monday observed that investigating agencies are showing a mindset which leans more towards the draconian power of arrest rather than the protection of individual liberty. Simple procedure In a series of directions, the court asked the Centre to consider bringing a separate …

Unexplained, Avoidable & Prolonged Delay In Concluding Trial, Appeal Or Revision Would Be A Factor For Consideration Of Bail: Supreme Court
2 years, 5 months ago

Unexplained, Avoidable & Prolonged Delay In Concluding Trial, Appeal Or Revision Would Be A Factor For Consideration Of Bail: Supreme Court

Live Law  

Directions issued The Court issued a slew of directions as follows : a) The Government of India may consider the introduction of a separate enactment in the nature of a Bail Act so as to streamline the grant of bails. b) The investigating agencies and their officers are duty-bound to comply with the mandate of Section 41 and 41A of …

Affirming the primacy of bail
2 years, 5 months ago

Affirming the primacy of bail

Hindustan Times  

An unfortunate facet of the Indian criminal justice system is the prolonged incarceration of people not convicted of any crime because of denial of bail. Despite four decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence stressing the importance of granting bail as a matter of practice and jail time only in exceptional circumstances, thousands of people continue to languish behind bars even as …

The courts must crack down on prolonged detentions, make bail the general rule
3 years, 1 month ago

The courts must crack down on prolonged detentions, make bail the general rule

Hindustan Times  

Irrespective of one’s views on the Aryan Khan case — and we believe that it is best left to the courts — it has thrown up a larger issue. Many hailed VR Krishna Iyer’s historic words — “bail is the rule and jail is an exception” — when they were pronounced. The police in the states have an even worse …

Recent Developments In Bail Jurisprudence
3 years, 6 months ago

Recent Developments In Bail Jurisprudence

Live Law  

The egalitarian maxim "Bail, not Jail" enunciated by Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer seemed to have got watered down in the past decades. Default Bail u/s 167 CrPC The proviso to Section 167 of the CrPC postulates: Provided that, The Magistrate may authorise the detention of the accused person, otherwise than in the custody of the police, beyond the period …

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