By Eashaan Agrawal
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Recently, the Supreme Court in the month of June, held that the lockdown doesn’t eclipse the right of liberty of an individual and that it the right of an accused to get default bail in case of delay in the investigation of the crime. This is the pedestal at which Supreme Court places the right of liberty and personal freedom.
What
is a bail then? Bail is the way of ensuring that freedom of the accused is
respected. It basically means temporarily releasing the accused from detention
for the duration of the case of being pending at the court. In India, the
Criminal Procedure Code lays down the provisions related to bail and sureties
in section 436-450.
Now
based on the severity of crime there are two kinds of offences, Bailable offences
and Non-Bailable offences. According to section 436 of CrPC in cases of Bailable offences, if a person is arrested
without a warrant, the person has the right to be released on furnishing the
bond, Bailable offences have been defined in section 2(a) of CrPC and usually
includes offences like simple hurt, public nuisance, death by negligence etc.
In the
case of non-bailable offences the situation changes and the person does not
have a right to be granted bail, but, is subject to the discretion of the court.
Under section 437 of CrPC-
1) A person will not be released on bail if the court has suspicion
that the person has committed a crime punishable with either death or life
imprisonment, or
2) That person has been convicted for an offence the punishment for which
is death or life imprisonment or seven years imprisonment or more or has been
twice convicted for an offence the punishment for which is more than three
years.
3) Bail can be granted to a person, even if he falls under 1 and 2 if,
his age is less than 16 years or is a woman or sick.
4) The court further has the discretion to grant bail if it thinks it
is fit to do so.
The
safeguards have been provided keeping in mind the serious nature of non-bailable
offences and the ramifications of releasing the accused in such cases.
In
these cases, the bail is applied for after the arrest of the concerned person,
however, in some cases, the person might expect arrest due to filing of a false
case or being falsely implicated in some crime. In such cases, the person has
the power under section 438 to apply for anticipatory bail, even before the
actual arrest. Such an application can only be made to the sessions court or
the concerned High Court. In anticipatory bail, the accused is subject to some
conditions, like the accused cannot leave India without permission, he should
make himself available for interrogation by Police Officer and not influence
any person so as to deter the person from disclosing any facts relevant to the
case.
There
is also the provision of default bail in some cases. Default bail is a mandatory bail which has been provided for under
Section 167(2)of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The default bail according
to this section is granted in those situations where the police fail to file
the charge sheet within the statutorily stated time after the police take the
accused under custody. This time period ranges from sixty days to ninety days
depending upon the nature of the offence.
Bail is a very important aspect of the criminal
justice system and it ensures that a person does not suffer before he is
convicted of the offence. It is important for the common people to know these
provisions so that they can effectively exercise their rights and protect
themselves.
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Eashaan is a 2nd year law student at National Law University Delhi. A voracious reader, he loves to travel to new places and experience the culture of different places. His interests include Constitutional Law, Contracts and Law of Crimes.
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