×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

'Bail crisis' affects entire judiciary

The role of district judges is most important in bail cases
Last Updated 24 November 2022, 23:31 IST

Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud’s comments on the reluctance of trial courts to grant bail to accused persons highlight a situation which is at the same time human and institutional in dealing with a pervasive problem in the judiciary. Speaking at a Bar Council of India function, the CJI said that the higher judiciary has to handle too many bail cases because of a reluctance on the part of trial courts to grant bail. He said judges in district courts have a “sense of fear” in granting bail, especially in cases involving heinous crimes. At one level, this fear may be caused by the administrative control High Court judges have over them. The CJI said it was necessary to bring to the district judiciary “a sense of dignity, sense of self-worth, sense of confidence”. Though they are equal stakeholders, as the CJI said, in practice, the district judges are treated as subordinates. They don’t have the protection that judges of the higher courts have. Even terms like subordinate judiciary and lower courts show their status.

The role of district judges is most important in bail cases. They are susceptible to pressure of various kinds which seek to ensure that there is “strict and adequate justice” by denying bail to the accused and seeing to it that the accused are in jail. Popular sentiments, which demand even instant punishment of the accused, and apprehension of possible adverse response from higher courts force district judges to play safe. Some laws like the UAPA make it almost impossible for judges to grant bail because trial courts have little discretion in the matter. Once even the Supreme Court said in a UAPA case that trial courts must go by the State’s case without examining its merits while considering grant of bail. In July this year, the court told the government to get a bail law enacted which would simplify the process and make it easy.

The bail problem is not always solved by the grant of bail. Many undertrials do not have the money for the bail bond and some even do not know that they have the right to bail. Most undertrial prisoners are from the poor strata and the weakest sections. Undertrials account for over 75% of the jail inmates. Because the courts dispose only a fraction of the cases the pile of arrears keeps increasing. About 3,000 bail petitions are pending in the Supreme Court and there are about one lakh in the High Courts. So, the functioning of the entire judiciary is affected by the bail crisis. More importantly, bail is a matter of justice and the rights of citizens.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 24 November 2022, 17:30 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT