Source: HT
Context: The Supreme Court has ruled that an accused person’s fundamental right (under Article 21) to receive default bail cannot be violated by probe agencies by filing supplementary charge sheets in cases where the investigation is yet to be completed.
- The violation of such a right directly attracts consideration under Article 32 of the Constitution
About Bail:
| Topic | Information |
| Definition | Bail is the release of an accused person from custody, on the undertaking that they will appear in court for their trial. |
| Legal Basis | Bail in India is governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which provides for the granting of bail by police and courts. |
| Statutory Bail | Statutory bail is a right to bail that accrues when police fail to complete the investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody. It is enshrined in the CrPC and is available for most offences. |
| The time limit for statutory bail | 60 days to complete the investigation and file a final report (in most cases). 90- or 180-day limit for some cases. |
| Regular Bail | Regular bail is granted to an accused person who is in custody and is usually granted on the basis of surety or personal bond. |
| Anticipatory Bail | Anticipatory bail is granted before arrest and is meant to protect an accused person from arrest. |
| Conditions for Bail | Bail may be granted with conditions, such as surrendering of passport, attending court hearings regularly, not contacting witnesses, etc. |
| Eligibility | Bail eligibility depends on several factors, including the nature of the crime, severity of the offence, likelihood of fleeing from justice, past criminal record, and the strength of evidence against the accused. |
| Status of under-trials | As per NCRB (National Crime Report Bureau), over the last 10 years, the number of undertrials in jails has risen constantly and in 2020, about 76% of all prison inmates in the country were undertrials (without bail) |
