Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
On November 29th, the Supreme Court ruled that it is “illegal” to offer relief to an accused for a short time and that it violates their right to liberty when a court determines that the accused person is entitled to increased bail in a pending trial.
A double-judge bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal was hearing a case filed by an accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985. The Apex Court held such orders placed an additional burden on the litigant because he had to file a new bail application to extend the relief that had previously been granted – “When a court concludes that the accused is entitled to be enlarged on bail pending trial, granting bail only for a limited duration is illegal. Such orders violate the right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India”.
The accused had submitted a petition against an Orissa High Court ruling. The Supreme Court pointed out that as per the High Court order, the appellant was found to be eligible for increased bail. The bench did, however, declare that he was given 45 days of interim bail. The court added, “In short, the high court was of the view that prolonged incarceration with no prospect of the trial coming to an end makes a case for the grant of bail”.
After recording the tentative findings, the Orissa High Court granted him bail only for 45 days, describing it as interim bail. The bench stated – “But after granting the interim bail, as mentioned in the last paragraph of the impugned order, the judge has finally disposed of the bail application. If an order granting interim bail was to be passed, the bail application should have been kept pending”.
The Court further said, “We may note here that this is the fifth or sixth order which we came across from the same high court where, after recording a finding that an accused was entitled to be enlarged on bail, the high court has chosen to grant either interim bail or bail for a short duration.” While allowing the appeal, the Court modified Orissa High Court’s order and directed that the appellant shall be enlarged on bail until the final disposal of the case.
Bench: Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal