Khushi Doshi
Published On: February 26, 2022, at 11:02 IST
While raising concerns about the long-pending Criminal Appeals in the Allahabad High Court, the Supreme Court proposed some Broad Parameters that the Allahabad High Court should consider while granting Bail.
The Bench of Justices SK Kaul and MM Sundresh suggested the following Parameters to be considered while granting Bail: –
- A list should be prepared of convicts who have been in jail for more than seven years and are not repeat offenders. The court said that in all these cases there is a high chance that if released, the convicts might not be interested to pursue appeals.
- Another category is of people who have served more than seven years and bail should be granted to them in one go.
- Convicts who have been in jail for 14 years, their case should be sent to the Board for consideration of prohibition.
- The State and High Court should prepare a list of matters where a convict is in jail for 14 years even if their appeal is pending due to their lawyer’s fault.
- The absence of a lawyer should not be the reason that people who have served more than 14 years stay in jail. In such cases, the state should take an appropriate stand and the court should examine cases for release.
- If the accused is in jail for more than 17 years and the High Court has rejected bail because the council did not argue, then denying bail to such a person is a travesty of justice.
- If a convict has served 14 or more than 14 years then the matter should be considered for remission and in such cases, the court should decide remission within three months or the court should at least grant bail to the convict.
Finally, the Bench of Justices SK Kaul and MM Sundresh stated that they wanted the Allahabad High Court to develop a template, but as the Bench became frustrated, it set broad parameters.
