BY-DEVANSHI SRIVASTAVA
The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Allahabad High Court in a case involving wide criteria that may be considered for granting bail in long-pending criminal appeals. The Supreme Court sent the notice in the matter to the Allahabad High Court today.
The bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy made the following observation: “We wish to establish certain guidelines solely on the basis that appeals have not been entertained for many years. People cannot be held in detention for an extended period of time.”
The Court said in its decision that it “expects” that the State of Uttar Pradesh take aggressive action in instances where people have been held in prison for extended periods of time without being released on bail even before the next date of hearing.
Additional Advocate General for the state of Uttar Pradesh Garima Prashad testified before the Bench that the vast majority of individuals who are incarcerated without bail are those who lack sufficient financial resources.
The case will now be heard on September 22, 2021, according to the court’s schedule.
In a memorandum filed to the Supreme Court, the government of Uttar Pradesh set forth two main factors to be considered when deciding whether to grant bail: – the total length of real incarceration endured; and – the amount of time that a criminal appeal is pending.
Following this, it was proposed that the following factors would be taken into account within such categories:
Deliberate delay in seeking an appeal due to the heinous nature of the offence – Previous behaviour and criminal history
– In the first instance, the appellant or prisoner must file a petition with the High Court.
A recommendation made in the study was to impose further requirements, such as personal presence before the High Court of Justice.
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