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Blacke’s law dictionary (4th) edition defines bail as “procure the release of a person from legal custody , by undertaking that he/she shall appear at the time and place designated and submit him/herself to the jurisdiction and judgment of the court.”[1]
The CRPC 1973 has not defined bail but the term bailable and non –bailable offences has been defined under the code as “bailable” offence means an offence which is shown as bailable in the first schedule or which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force and non-bailable offence means any other offence. Section 436 to 450 of the CRPC[2] lays down the provisions for the grant of bail and bond.
The purpose of bail is to balance individual right to life and personal liberty and the social right of fair and effective investigation and conviction and punishment of culprit.
In the case of bailable offences , the balance has been drawn already in favour of accused where he has been allowed his personal liberty by granting him bail. Since Non-bailable offences are more serious offences , discretion of balancing is left on the court, where the court has to go through the facts and circumstances of the specific case. The main approach is that the court will always be tilted in favour of granting bail but it will also examine other circumstances which have been produced by the prosecution.
The Hon’ble SC discussed the need of balance between individual liberty and societal order while exercising power of arrest in the case of Arnesh Kumar vs state of Bihar[3], it was held that all such cases where offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term of which may be less than seven years or which may extend to 7 years whether with or without fine, police officers shall not arrest the accused unnecessarily and magistrate shall not authorize detention casually and mechanically .
The Magistrate and Police officers are authorized to grant bail owing to different scenarios.
Bail is a matter of right of the citizens , it is the basic root of the principle of Indian judiciary that “even if hundred culprits walk free, no innocent must be declared guilty”.
Under CRPC bail can be granted under-
1. Section 436 of CRPC for the bailable offences
2. Bail on lack of reasonable grounds for commission of non-bailable offence under section 437(2)
3. Bail on failure of completion of investigation ,within stipulated time under section 167.[4]
Bail application can be filed under section 439 of CRPC and the bail application can be signed by any close relative or parokar of the accused .All the relevant documents must be filed out with the bail application in the respective courts.
But owing to the recent situation prevailing in the across the glove where we are struck by a pandemic situation , and the whole country is in a lockdown situation including the courts , so in this situation it was important to see that justice is not obstructed , people all over the country are already facing numerous challenges everyday because of the pandemic so the judicial system of the country must support the people in their hard times by listening to their pleas and bail applications , but this was not possible as courts are not in function due to the lockdown and for practicing the social distancing norms. Hence providing a major relief to the litigants and lawyers the courts decided to commence E-filing of cases and bail applications.
Guidelines have been issued for E-filing of bail applications by advocates[5]
Step 1:- Any Lawyer/Advocate can file Bail Application to Session’s Court as well as Magisterial Courts through E-mail on Courts official E-mail id by duly mentioning his enrolment number and place of practice
Step 2:- Then application shall be registered by concerned System Officer/System Assistant without undue delay.
Step 3:- Acknowledgement Slip, with specific mention of CNR Number shall be sent to sender’s E-mail Id.
Step 4:- Reply will also be obtained from the Public Prosecutor / Concerned Investigating Officer .The district attorney 's official e-mail and a copy thereof will be delivered on E-mail I d for sender.
Step 5:- The applicant / advocate can search for the next date and final order By filling in the CNR number the Ecourt services portal.
Step 6:- Arguments on Bail applications will be heard through Video Conferencing.
Step 7:- Copy of interim/final order shall be supplied to concerned Advocates and Public Prosecutor though official E-mail id. All the orders will also be uploaded in CIS System.
[1] https://thelawdictionary.org/bail-v/. [2] https://devgan.in/crpc/chapter_33.php. [3] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/2982624/. [4] https://indiankanoon.org/doc/839149/. [5] https://districts.ecourts.gov.in/procedure-e-filing-bail-applications-applicantsundertrials-lodged-jail-premises-during-lockdown. Reference 1. https://www.latestlaws.com/library/legal-documents/legal-applications-criminal-courts/. 2. https://www.intolegalworld.com/LegalNotes.aspx?title=provisions-for-bail-under-crpc. 3. https://blog.ipleaders.in/bail-procedure/.
Author- Aeshna Raghuwanshi, Content writer, Legal Eagle.