Bail Conditions Should Be Relaxed if Bail Bonds Not Furnished in a Month: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that lower courts should relax bail conditions if an undertrial prisoner is unable to furnish the stipulated bail bonds for over a month. Thousands of undertrial prisoners languish in jails despite being granted bail; this order is meant to mitigate that problem.

A a National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) report recently highlighted “that there are 5,000 undertrial prisoners who were in jail, despite grant of bail, out of which, 2,357 persons were provided legal assistance and now 1,417 persons have since been released”. The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice S.K. Kaul based its order off of that, The Tribune reported.

“One of the reasons which delays the release of the accused/ convict is the insistence upon local surety. It is suggested that in such cases, the courts may not impose the condition of local surety,” the bench said.

According to Bar and Bench, the court also ordered that the following directives be followed:

- The Court which grants bail to an undertrial prisoner/convict would be required to send a soft copy of the bail order by e-mail to the prisoner through the Jail Superintendent on the same day or the next day. The Jail Superintendent would be required to enter the date of grant of bail in the e-prisons software [or any other software which is being used by the prison department;

- If the accused is not released within a period of 7 days from the date of grant of bail, it would be the duty of the Superintendent of Jail to inform the secretary of Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) who may depute para legal volunteer or jail visiting advocate to interact with the prisoner and assist the prisoner in all ways possible for his release;

- NIC would make attempts to create necessary fields in the e-prison software so that the date of grant of bail and date of release are entered by the prison department and in case the prisoner is not released within 7 days, then an automatic email can be sent to the secretary, DLSA;

- The secretary, DLSA with a view to finding out the economic condition of the accused, may take help of the probation officers or the para legal volunteers to prepare a report on the socio-economic conditions of the inmate which may be placed before the concerned court with a request to relax the condition (s) of bail/surety;

- In cases where the undertrial or convict requests that he can furnish bail bond or sureties once released, then in an appropriate case, the court may consider granting temporary bail for a specified period to the accused so that he can furnish bail bond or sureties;

- If the bail bonds are not furnished within one month from the date of grant bail, the concerned court may suo moto take up the case and consider whether the conditions of bail require modification/ relaxation;

- One of the reasons which delays the release of the accused/ convict is the insistence upon local surety. It is suggested that in such cases, the courts may not impose the condition of local surety.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.