The Crossbill Team
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (August 13), affirmed that the legal principle "bail is the rule, jail is the exception" applies even to offenses under special statutes such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
While granting bail to a man accused under this stringent anti-terror law, a bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih stated that denying bail in deserving cases would violate fundamental rights.
““Bail is the rule and jail is an exception” is a settled law. Even in a case like the present case where there are stringent conditions for the grant of bail in the relevant statutes, the same rule holds good with only modification that the bail can be granted if the conditions in the statute are satisfied. The rule also means that once a case is made out for the grant of bail, the Court cannot decline to grant bail", the Court said in the judgment, Live Law reported.
"If the Courts start denying bail in deserving cases, it will be a violation of the rights guaranteed under Article 21 of our Constitution," the judgment added.
The accused, Jalaluddin Khan, faced charges for renting out his property to alleged members of the banned organization Popular Front of India (PFI), who were reportedly conducting training sessions. Khan appealed to the Supreme Court challenging the Patna high court's decision to deny him bail.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), opposing Khan's bail plea, argued that CCTV footage showed Khan potentially tampering with evidence. On July 6 and 7, 2022, Khan was observed removing certain items that were subsequently missing during a police raid on the property on July 11, 2022.
However, the court questioned why the nature of the allegedly removed objects was not specified in the chargesheet against Khan. The court also noted, “if he intended to allow the conduct of objectionable activities of PFI by giving first floor premises on rent, he would not have installed CCTV cameras”.
While granting bail to a man accused under this stringent anti-terror law, a bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih stated that denying bail in deserving cases would violate fundamental rights.
““Bail is the rule and jail is an exception” is a settled law. Even in a case like the present case where there are stringent conditions for the grant of bail in the relevant statutes, the same rule holds good with only modification that the bail can be granted if the conditions in the statute are satisfied. The rule also means that once a case is made out for the grant of bail, the Court cannot decline to grant bail", the Court said in the judgment, Live Law reported.
"If the Courts start denying bail in deserving cases, it will be a violation of the rights guaranteed under Article 21 of our Constitution," the judgment added.
The accused, Jalaluddin Khan, faced charges for renting out his property to alleged members of the banned organization Popular Front of India (PFI), who were reportedly conducting training sessions. Khan appealed to the Supreme Court challenging the Patna high court's decision to deny him bail.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), opposing Khan's bail plea, argued that CCTV footage showed Khan potentially tampering with evidence. On July 6 and 7, 2022, Khan was observed removing certain items that were subsequently missing during a police raid on the property on July 11, 2022.
However, the court questioned why the nature of the allegedly removed objects was not specified in the chargesheet against Khan. The court also noted, “if he intended to allow the conduct of objectionable activities of PFI by giving first floor premises on rent, he would not have installed CCTV cameras”.
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