Published: 15th Jul, 2022
Context
Recently, a Bench of Justices S.K. Kaul and M.M. Sundresh said jails were overflowing in India while conviction rates remained an abysmal low.
The top court asked the Centre to bring a new Act exclusively to simplify and streamline bails.
Background
- The matter came up in the Supreme Court as it was delivering its verdict in the Satender Kumar Antil versus Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case.
- It noted then that jails in India are flooded with under trials.
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Example (British law on bail)
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Analysis
Types of Offence
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In India’s legal system, the term offence has been categorised as bailable offences and non-bailable under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
- Bailable Offence: As per IPC Section 2(a), a bailable offence means an offence that is shown as bailable in the First Schedule.
- Which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force; ‘non-bailable offence’ means any other offence.
- Non-bailable Offence: The term ‘non-bailable’ doesn’t imply that bail can’t be granted at all.
- It simply means that the accused can’t claim it as a matter of their right at the time of the arrest or custody.
- But they can approach the court when while they are under trial.
- In non-bailable offences, it’s the court’s discretion to grant bail to the accused. And the same must be decided judiciously.
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Penal Code:
Indian Penal Code:
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Grim scenario
- High rate of prison population in India is under-trial.
- Prisons in India are overcrowded to occupancy of more than 100%.
- The powerful, rich and influential class obtain bail promptly within no time, while the poor, underprivileged, downtrodden mass languish in jail as under-trials for years due to denial of bail.
- The rate of conviction in criminal cases in India is abysmally low.
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Rate of conviction in criminal cases in India: As per data maintained by National Crime Record Bureau, the conviction rate of States/UTs relating to cognizable crime under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes during 2018, 2019 and 2020 is 66.6, 66.4 and 73.4 respectively. |
Suggestive measures by Top Court:
- The judges suggested that bail applications should be disposed of within two weeks.
- The pleas for anticipatory bail should be decided within six weeks.
- Investigating agencies and their officers are duty-bound to comply with section Section 41-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (Notice of appearance before police officer).
- The proper directions and non-compliance would entitle the accused to grant bail.
- It further directed all state governments, Union Territories, and high courts to file status reports in four months.
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