The Supreme Court of India in Satinder Kumar Antil vs CBI July 2022 held following principles :
A bail is the rule and jail is the exception.
SC suggested that the government introduce a comprehensive law on bail following the principles and guidelines laid down in the judgment. [Similar to 'Bail Act' in United Kingdom]
Police officers, who do not follow strict guidelines on Sections 41, 41A, and other relevant CrPC given in 2014 in Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar, have to made liable for departmental enquiry and contempt of court.
If the police have not complied with the procedures laid down in Sections 41 and 41A of the CrPC, then the magistrates are duty-bound to release the accused on bail.
Mechanical orders of Magistrates granting police or judicial custody without giving proper reasons will lead to enquiry against them by the respective High Courts.
Section 41 of the Code provides for the circumstances in which arrest can be made by the police without a warrant and mandates for reasons to be recorded in writing for every arrest and non-arrest. | Section 41A of the Code provides for the requirement of a notice to be sent by the investigating agencies before making an arrest in certain conditions prescribed by the Code. |
Delays in trial, young age of the accused, sickness, or the applicant being a woman must be considered as relevant factors for the grant of bail in all cases, whether they fall under UAPA, the sedition law, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, or any other.
There need not be any insistence on a bail application while considering the application under Sections 88, 170, 204 and 209 of the Code. The Court said that “there needs to be a strict compliance of the mandate laid down in the judgment of this court in Siddharth” ( Siddharth vs State of U.P., 2021).
Bail applications ought to be disposed of within a period of two weeks except if the provisions mandate otherwise — the exception being an intervening application. Applications for anticipatory bail are expected to be disposed of within a period of six weeks with the exception of any intervening application.
DEFINITION OF BAIL :
• A bail is nothing but a surety inclusive of a personal bond from the accused. It means the release of an accused person either by the orders of the Court or by the police or by the Investigating Agency.
• It is a set of pre-trial restrictions imposed on a suspect while enabling any interference in the judicial process.
• Thus, it is a conditional release on the solemn undertaking by the suspect that he would cooperate both with the investigation and the trial. [Satinder Kumar Antil vs CBI]
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