Bail – Allegation against appellant for commission of offences punishable u/ss.489A, 489B and 489C r/w. s.34 – Appellant incarcerated for two and a half years – Whether appellant deserved to be enlarged on bail:
Held: Six counterfeit currency notes of Rs.500/- each are subject matter of the offence – The appellant has been incarcerated for two and a half years – The counter affidavit filed by the State shows that there are no antecedents – The trial is not likely to conclude in a reasonable time – Therefore, in the facts of the case, the appellant deserves to be enlarged on bail following the well settled rule that bail is rule and jail is an exception – Appellant directed to be produced before the trial Court – The Trial Court shall enlarge the appellant on bail till the conclusion of the trial on appropriate terms and conditions, including the condition of regularly and punctually attending the Trial Court and cooperating with the Trial Court for expeditious conclusion of the case. [Paras 4, 5] Trial – Fixation of time bound schedule for trial by the High Court – Propriety:
Held: Such directions adversely affect the functioning of the Trial Courts as in many Trial Courts, there may be older cases of the same category pending – Every court has criminal cases pending which require expeditious disposal for several reasons, such as the requirement of the penal statutes, long incarceration, age of the accused, etc. – Only because someone files a case in Constitutional Courts, he cannot get out of turn hearing – Such orders are difficult to implement – Such orders give a false hope to the litigants – If in a given case, in law and on facts, an accused is entitled to bail on the ground of long incarceration without the trial making any progress, the Court must grant bail – Option of expediating trial is not the solution – It is settled that the Constitutional Courts should refrain from fixing a time-bound schedule for the disposal of cases pending before any other Courts – A direction which can be issued in exceptional circumstances is being routinely issued by High Courts without noticing the law laid down by the Constitution Bench. [Paras 6, 7, 8]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Ankit Gyan. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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