To speed up bail hearings, high court can waive notice: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said thousands of bail petitions pending in high courts over the years have violated the “precious” right to liberty and ordered that issuance of notice of bail pleas can be dispensed with by providing a copy of the petition to the prosecution in advance so that they can respond on the first day of hearing.Currently, the normal practice of the courts is to issue notice on the bail plea of ​​the accused and seek a reply from the concerned state government, investigating agency or prosecution. Replies are not submitted for several weeks, delaying the processing of release requests for persons in judicial or police custody in connection with criminal cases.

Protecting defendant’s freedom does not mean ignoring victims’ rights: SC

The Madras High Court got a thumbs up from CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi for taking minimum time in deciding the bail application. Although the Allahabad High Court is one of the places where bail pleas are pending, the judges are also aware that the number of cases pending there is huge and the judges have to hear nearly 200 bail petitions every day.While stressing that speedy hearing of bail applications should not be at the expense of the rights of crime victims, the judge issued a slew of instructions, including automatically re-listing bail applications already accepted, to be heard through a software program at least every two weeks.While expediting the hearing of bail pleas, the Supreme Court said measures to protect the freedom of the accused do not mean neglect of concern for the rights of crime victims. “In victim-centred criminal cases, the accountability of investigating agencies and prosecutors is very important and any laxity on their part could result in the accused being released on bail,” the report said.The judges said the high court would take steps to establish a practice that would discourage the government, investigative agencies and prosecutors from seeking to postpone hearings and “remind them of the solemn duty of the courts to protect the most precious fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution”.The SC noted that in many cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, trials were delayed due to non-prompt provision of forensic laboratory reports. The CJI-led bench asked the HC chief justice to work with the government to expedite FSL reporting in court cases.The judges recommended that the HC set up a portal that would provide the pendency status of every pending bail plea so that the accused, prosecution and courts could take remedial measures for expeditious disposal.