Bail in Non-Bailable Offences: A Critical Analysis of Supreme Court Guidelines
By Samrat Bandopadhyay, Joint Director, Civil Services Officer, Government of India*,Thaneshwar Chakrawarti**, RGSOIPL, IIT Kharagpur
& Shekhar Mazumdar***, IET-DAVV, Indore.
Abstract
“Bail is the rule, jail is the exception” is a common adage in the legal fraternity. Bail in a bailable offence is a right, however in case of non-bailable offence, it is the discretion of the Court and the same has to be provided with ‘due caution’. Bail has its root in French word ‘bailer’ means to “to give or to deliver”. Section 436 to 450 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 spells out in detail the various provisions of bail. The bail has been in usage from a long time with its origin deeply rooted in the English and American laws. In medieval period in England, the need for bail arose out of the necessity to release prisoners, who were suffering from diseases in jails and they were waiting for their trails delayed; whereby, they were delivered to respectable third parties in society who would take the responsibility of behalf of the accused. They would ensure that the bailed person would be available for trail process as may be required by Courts, whereby their inability to be produced before the Court of Law would be seen to be forfeiture of the surety amount deposited and non-adherence to the norms and rules as expected of a law-abiding person. The twin objectives of bail as explicated in statutory provisions as well as via catena of judgments over a period of time include firstly, the “presumption of innocence” as well as secondly, shielding the accused till the trial process is over which either convicts the accused or acquits him from the purposed allegations of commissioning of the offence. The instant paper is an attempt to look at varied scenarios related to the non-bailable offences and the legal provisions with its implication and further ramifications for the society. Reliance has been placed on judgments which have been guiding light in this context to understand the wider implications of bail provisions along with a critical analysis of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s guidelines on the rights and privileges which are extended by the bail provisions.
Keywords: Bail; Non-Bailable Offence; Bail under Special Legislations; Jumping Bail; Cancellation of Bail.
[1] * Joint Director, Civil Services Officer, Group A, Government of India, BE (Information Science and Engineering), MBA (IIT Kharagpur) and presently pursuing LL.B. in 2nd year at RGSOIPL, IIT Kharagpur. [2]** B.Sc. (Hons.) Electronics, Delhi University, M.Sc. Applied Mathematics (Specialization in Computing Informatics), IET-DAVV, Indore. [3] *** BTech (Electrical Engineering), Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh and presently pursuing LL.B. in 2nd year at RGSOIPL, IIT Kharagpur.
