The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Union government to consider introducing a separate law in the nature of a Bail Act so as to streamline granting of bails, saying jails in the country were flooded with more than two-third of the prisoners being undertrial inmates.
Noting that criminal courts are "gaurdian angels of liberty", the top court also declared that bail applications ought to be disposed of within a period of two weeks except if the provisions mandated otherwise. The applications for anticipatory bail are expected to be disposed of within a period of six weeks with the exception of any intervening application, it said.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh said the rate of conviction in criminal cases in India is abysmally low.
"It appears to us that this factor weighs on the mind of the court while deciding the bail applications in a negative sense. Courts tend to think that the possibility of a conviction being nearer to rarity, bail applications will have to be decided strictly, contrary to legal principles," the bench said.
"We cannot mix up consideration of a bail application, which is not punitive in nature with that of a possible adjudication by way of trial. On the contrary, an ultimate acquittal with continued custody would be a case of grave injustice," the bench added.
The court noted the existence of exclusive laws in the form of Bail Acts prevailing in the United Kingdom and various States of USA, prescribing adequate guidelines both for investigating agencies and the courts to deal with such matters.
After hearing senior advocate Sidharth Luthra as amicus curiae and Additional Solicitor General S V Raju on behalf of the Union government, the top court said the arrest is a draconian measure resulting in curtailment of liberty, and thus to be used sparingly.
It issued a set of guidelines in its judgement in the case of titled as 'Satender Kumar Antil Vs CBI'. The court also told the investigating agencies that they are duty bound to follow the safeguards issued earlier in the case of Arnesh Kumar for arrest of accused.