New Delhi, September 24
The Supreme Court has come down heavily on the high courts and lower courts for granting bail without detailing any reason on many occasions, saying the reasoning order was compulsory.
“There is a need to indicate in the order, reasons for prima facie concluding why bail was being granted, particularly where an accused was charged of having committed a serious offence,” a Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice Arun Kumar said.
Laying down three necessary parameters for granting bail, the apex court said the courts below were required to exercise their discretion in granting the bail in a “judicious manner and not as a matter of course.”
The three parameters for consideration for the court are; the nature of accusation and severity of punishment in cases of conviction and the nature of supportive evidence, reasonable apprehension of tampering of the witness or apprehension of threat to the complaint and prima facie satisfaction of the court in support of the charge.
The direction came in view of a petition by a Muslim woman, alleging that the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to an accused in her husband’s murder case without specifying any reason.
“We find that the High Court had disposed of the bail application without indicating any reason and in a very cryptic manner,” the court said adding that though exhaustive exploration of the merits of the case is not necessary while considering the bail by the courts, yet they should be satisfied as to whether a “prima facie” case for bail was made out or not.
