Criminal appeal must be pending for 5 years or more to seek bail on grounds of delay: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has recently ruled that a plea before the High Court seeking suspension of sentence and grant of bail on the ground of delay in conclusion of the trial or disposal of appeal in the case, can be entertained only if the criminal appeal has been pending for over five years (Raghubir Singh V/s UT of J&K). .A Division Bench comprising Justices Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Puneet Gupta, therefore, dismissed a plea which sought bail on the ground that the accused has been in jail for over 13 years for an offence of murder.The Court noted that the order of conviction and sentence by the court below was passed on July 23, 2020 and the appeal against the same was filed on August 6, 2020. .The Court in this regard referred to the decision of a coordinate bench of the High Court in case Rakesh Kumar Vs. State of J&K decided in July 2020 in which it was held that there must be a 5-year delay in disposal of appeal to be eligible for bail on grounds of delay. The said judgment stated the following:"In Akhtari Bi case, the Apex Court held that speedy justice was a fundamental right flowing from Article 21 of the Constitution. It was held that a right accrued in favour of the accused to apply for bail in a case where there was delay in the disposal of the trial and appeals in criminal cases. It was held that if an appeal was not disposed of within a period of 5 years for no fault of the appellant, such convicts may be released on bail on conditions as may be deemed fit and proper by the court.".The Court placed reliance on the same to hold that since 5 years have not lapsed after the filing of the appeal, the accused will not be entitled to bail on the ground of delay. ."Considering the fact that the appeal has been preferred against the judgment of conviction and sentence in the year 2020, following the ratio of the judgment in Akhtari Bi vs. State of MP [AIR 2001 SC 1528] and the view expressed by the coordinate Bench of this court of which one of us (Thakur-J) was a member, we feel that since five years have not elapsed from the date of the filing of the present appeal and the matter is already listed in the final hearing column, no ground is made out for suspending the sentence and granting bail in the present case," the Court ruled. .It, therefore, dismissed the application..Additional Advocate General Aseem Sawhney appeared on behalf of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.