All Should Get Bail, Not a Few

Context

An individual who was charged in the Lakhimpur Kheri case, in which eight people died, recently received interim bail.

o Everyone accused of the same or lesser offences must be treated equally.

Relevance:

GS paper-2: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary – Ministries and Departments of the Government

Mains Question

What do you think about the idea that everyone, not just the privileged few, should be subject to bail instead of jail? Observation (150 words)

A Basic Principle of Personal Liberty: Bail, Not Jail

• Justice Krishna Iyer stated that the “basic rule” is “Bail, not Jail” almost fifty years ago.However, this fundamental principle of personal liberty has consistently been disregarded, resulting in the incarceration of common people, human rights activists, writers, educators, and even press reporters.
• According to data provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 4,27,165 of the total 5,54,034 prisoners were incarcerated as of December 31, 2021, meaning that more than four lakh accused were detained without bail while awaiting the start or conclusion of their trial.

The Root Cause of the Resistance to Release:

• The higher judiciary is overrun with bail requests as a result of reluctance at the grassroots levels to grant bail, according to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), who made this statement in November 2022 while speaking at an event hosted by the Bar Council of India.
• Despite Justice Iyer’s unambiguous statement from more than 50 years ago and the Supreme Court’s thorough instructions on arrest and bail in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, the basic principle of bail is frequently disregarded or rejected by the courts. In addition, even the Supreme Court is currently dealing with hundreds of bail applications and a sizable number of habeas corpus petitions.
• The CJI stated in the Arnab Goswami case that “deprivation of liberty for a single day is a day too many,” so these are significant numbers.
• The judiciary must show more empathy in order to address the problems that people facing trials face.
• The need for greater transparency within the judicial system is also urgent.
• The courts should think about ordering daily proceedings to speed up the legal process and avoid prison overcrowding. This will help the case move along smoothly and allow people to get justice quickly.

Is Bail in the Case of Ashish Mishra a Priority Over Safety?

• Ashish Mishra’s recent bail hearing has rekindled concerns about how bail is applied in the Indian judicial system. The police took a while to find him despite the brutality of the crime.
  • Mishra wasn’t actually arrested until a Public Interest Litigation was brought before the Supreme Court to address the police’s inaction and voice concerns about the impartiality of the investigation.
    • One judge on the Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench granted the accused’s request for bail.
  • The Supreme Court was then contacted, but the bench criticised the high court for failing to take important factors into account, such as the seriousness of the offence and the likelihood that the accused would tamper with evidence or flee from justice.In the end, the Supreme Court revoked the bail, sending a strong message about the value of objectivity in the legal system.The Supreme Court is still considering Ashish Mishra’s request for standard bail. However, the accused has been given provisional bail for the following reasons:
  • To start, he has been detained for more than a year.
  • Secondly, it is anticipated that the trial will last at least five years.
• Many people were surprised by this decision because the same bench had previously rejected the bail application on valid and justified grounds.
  • Although bail cannot be refused indefinitely, it shouldn’t be given priority over the safety of society and the prompt conclusion of the court case.

Conclusion

• The basic rule, “Bail, not jail,” is the principle of bail, and it is past time for the Indian judicial system to uphold this rule.