1 week Ago
Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has directed the trial courts to ensure that the orders granting bail do not have arbitrary surety conditions without considering the socio-economic status of the bail applicant. The court pointed out that several persons who are poor or belong to the marginalized sections of society may not be able to comply with such bail conditions. Justice Ajay Bhanot observed that it is the responsibility of trial courts to apply their minds by considering the socio-economic status of the accused while fixing sureties.
"This appears to be a serious matter. A large number of persons, who belong to marginalized sections of the society or are financially destitute, are unable to arrange or provide sureties fixed arbitrarily by the trial courts. To deal with this situation, the constitutional courts have consistently held that the right of bail cannot be defeated by arbitrary surety demands ," the court said in the order passed on Aug 30.
"It is the responsibility of the trial court to apply their minds to the socio-economic status of the accused and accordingly fix the sureties. The law has cautioned against determining sureties in a mechanical manner," it added. The court's observations came while granting bail to one Arman of Agra district, who had been in jail since Sep 2020.
The man moved the high court for bail after a trial court rejected his bail plea in one of several cases filed against him. While granting bail to Arman, the high court noted that despite having been granted bail by the trial court in other criminal cases registered against him, the accused had not been released on bail due to his inability to furnish sureties. The court called on the trial courts to ensure that bail sureties are fixed in line with the directions already issued in the case of Arvind Singh vs State of UP through principal secretary, home department.
In this case, the high court had issued detailed guidelines to check mechanical imposition of bail conditions..
