Published on: October 6, 2023 at 12:30 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Sunil Fulchand Shah V. Union of India (2000)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that Bail is granted to a person who has been arrested in a non-bailable offence or has been convicted of an offence after trial. It is held that a person is released on bail is release from internment though the Court would still retain constructive control through the sureties.
24. Bail and parole have different connotations in law. Bail is well understood in criminal jurisprudence and Chapter XXXIII of the Code of Criminal Procedure contains elaborate provisions relating to grant of bail. Bail is granted to a person who has been arrested in a non-bailable offence or has been convicted of an offence after trial.
The effect of granting bail is to release the accused from internment though the court would still retain constructive control over him through the sureties. In case the accused is released on his own bond such constructive control could still be exercised through the conditions of the bond secured from him.
The literal meaning of the word “bail” is surety. In Halsbury’s Laws of England [ Halsbury’s Laws of England, 4th Edn., Vol. 11, para 166.] , the following observation succinctly brings out the effect of bail:
The effect of granting bail is not to set the defendant (accused) at liberty but to release him from the custody of law and to entrust him to the custody of his sureties who are bound to produce him to appear at his trial at a specified time and place. The sureties may seize their principal at any time and may discharge themselves by handing him over to the custody of law and he will then be imprisoned.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra
