JOIN US'Reasoning is lifeblood of judicial system': SC concerned over cryptic bail orders
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed concern over the recent trend of courts passing bail orders in a cryptic manner, without sufficient reasoning, which is considered "the lifeblood of the judicial system".
"There is a recent trend of passing such orders of bail, where the courts make a general observation that the facts and the circumstances have been considered," said a bench presided by Chief Justice N V Ramana. "No specific reasons are indicated. Such a situation continues despite various judgements of this court disapproving of such a practice."
The top court allowed the criminal appeal of a girl from Sikar and set aside a Rajasthan High Court's order that granted bail to her uncle in a case that accused him of raping her over three to four years.
The bench, also comprising Justice Krishna Murari, noted that the High Court's order was cryptic and did not suggest any application of the mind.
The court pointed out the High Court had failed to consider that the man was accused of committing the grievous offence of rape against his young niece of 19 years. "The fact that the accused is a habitual offender with nearly 20 cases registered against him has not even found mentioned in the order," the court said. "Further, the High Court has failed to consider the influence that the accused may have over the victim as an elder family member."
Moreover, the period of imprisonment, being only three months, is not of such magnitude as to push the court towards granting bail in an offence of this nature, the bench added.
The top court said that apart from the general observation that the facts and circumstances of the case had been taken into account, nowhere had the actual facts of the case been adverted to by the High Court. "There appears to be no reference to the factors that ultimately led the High Court to grant bail," the bench said. "In fact, no reasoning is apparent from the order."
Maintaining that the Supreme Court had consistently upheld the necessity of reasoned bail orders, with a special emphasis on matters involving serious offences, the bench said, "Reasoning is the lifeblood of the judicial system. That every order must be reasoned is one of the fundamental tenets of our system. An unreasoned order suffers the vice of arbitrariness."
The apex court further said there was no straitjacket formula that could ever be prescribed as to what the relevant factors could be for the court to consider in exercising its discretionary power to grant bail. "However, certain important factors that are always considered, inter alia, relate to prima facie involvement of the accused, the nature and gravity of the charge, the severity of the punishment, and the character, position and standing of the accused," the bench added.