What is BAIL and its certain Principles?
What is the meaning of BAIL? What are its Principles?
“The issue of bail is one of liberty, justice, public safety and burden of public treasury, all of which insist that a developed jurisprudence of bail is integral to a socially sensitised judicial process.”
Crime and arrest of accused are the part of social phenomenon since the time immemorial. The concept of bail grew out of the need to free ailing and infirm under trial prisoners from disease ridden jails while they were waiting for the conclusion of inordinately delayed trials.
The concept of bail, which is the basic part of the Indian criminal jurisprudence and it is a well recognised principle among all the judicial systems of the world. Bail, in law, means procurement of release from prison of a person awaiting trial or an appeal, by the deposit of security to ensure his submission at the required time to legal authority. The monetary value of the security, known as the bail, or more accurately the bail bond is set by the court having jurisdiction over the prisoner. It denotes the provisional release of accused in criminal cases where the court is yet to announce a judgement. The main reason for arresting a person is that the accused appears before the court for the conveyance of justice in criminal cases. And, if the person’s presence for the court’s trial can be assured without putting them in jail, it would be unfair for that person as it violates his personal liberty. Thus, bail can be granted as a conditional liberty to the accused.
In Sanjay Chandra v. CBI the honourable Apex Court was of the opinion that,
“ The grant or refusal to grant bail lies within the discretion of the court. This depends upon the facts and circumstances of the cases. Although the right to bail is not denied merely because of sentiments of the community against the accused. Basically, bail is provided to reduce the burden of the States, and be assured that the accused would submit to the jurisdiction of the court and be present whenever required.
It has come under notice that the existing norms of grant or refusal of bail in India have close nexus with the economic well being and literacy standards.
However, there are certain principles that serve as a benchmark for the State and various other authorities.
(1) Presumption of innocence : It is the duty of the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused. Every individual charged with a crime has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The guideline that bail be the general rule and jail an exception is the principle enshrined in Article 11(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1948.
(2) Right to non-discrimination : The Supreme Court in case of Gudikanti Narasimhulu v. Public Prosecutor, it was observed that personal liberty is deprived when bail is refused, which is a fundamental right as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the rule of law is perceived as an indispensable tool to avoid discrimination and arbitrary use of force. However, these days there have been two approaches to bail, firstly bail as a right for the financially able and secondly, bail being dependent on judicial discretion, exercised through manipulation of the amount of ‘reasonable ‘ bail that will be required.
(3) Right to Liberty, Security and Freedom from Arbitrary Detention : By virtue of the Fundamental Rights the state is placed under an obligation to protect and preserve the liberty and the security of the citizens against arbitrary arrest and detention.
In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, it was held that procedure under Article 21 must be just, fair and equitable. Before a person is deprived of his life and personal liberty, the procedure established by law must be strictly followed, and must not be departed from to the disadvantage of the person affected.
In the case of Joginder Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh the Supreme Court has given directions on the rights of the arrested persons in the light of Article 21 & 22.
(4) Right to speedy trial and fair trial : this right is ubiquitous and is not conditioned on any request or invocation of such right by the accused person. Such an accused is entitled to be produced before the court without any undue delay in order to enable the courts to determine whether the initial detention is justified or the accused must be released on bail.
In Abdul Rehman Antulay v. R.S. Nayak, the Supreme Court laid down guidelines for speedy trial for all the courts in the country.
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