Supreme Court registers suo motu case on bail for convicts in long pending criminal appeals

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the issues concerning the circumstances in which courts should consider grant of bail to convicts who have been in custody for a considerable period of time while their criminal appeals remain pending before higher courts (Saudan Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh)..A policy is expected to be formulated on this issue. The Court was hearing a batch of eighteen petitions, all seeking bail citing the time period already spent in prison by the petitioners. The Court today ordered:."It should be seen that the current bail applications before us is promptly placed before the High Court so that the applications are heard. For further examination of this problem, a suo motu case can be registered before the court for further directions. We direct the Registry to register suo motu proceedings in this regard and place it before the Court on November 16. The other petitions listed before us for bail shall be transferred to High Court.".The Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh today also voiced disapproval over the Allahabad High Court's decision to accept the suggestions made by the State government on the issue. ."If the submissions of AAG is accepted, the process will become more cumbersome. It is the perspective of the State and this cannot become the perspective of the institution. Suggestions are too wide and mind has not been applied while accepting the same. The affidavit has been filed by the High Court accepting suggestions by the government. If we peruse the suggestions it will make exercise of grant of bail more cumbersome," the Court said..The long pendency of bail applications and a delay in listing such cases would impact Article 21 of the Constitution, the Bench said. Addressing the counsel appearing for the Allahabad High Court, Justice Sundresh remarked,"Mr Yashvardhan, this will impact your Court. These applications can't be kept pending for long.. This will be directly hitting Article 21.".The Bench went on to urge the High Court to explore how to tackle these and several other issues flagged by the Supreme Court in these matters."There may be convicts who don't have access to legal aid to move bail applications. High Court thus must explore all cases where convicts have undergone sentence of eight years can be considered for grant of bail ... We agree that the convict must approach the High Court first so that Supreme Court is not unnecessarily burdened. But in such cases it has to be seen that bail applications are listed promptly ... In view of our broad observations, High Court has to place before us how such cases would be taken up for consideration of grant of bail," the Court said..The Court also noted that there may be life convicts in custody who have undergone half of their sentence. Since fifty percent of the sentence has been undergone, it can be the basis of granting bail, the top Court suggested. .The Allahabad High Court was given four weeks time to place a policy on this issue as well before the Supreme Court..The Supreme Court had earlier stated that it would lay down broad parameters or guidelines to aid the Allahabad High Court in deciding bail applications filed seeking relief on the ground of time spent in jail..A Bench of Justices Kaul and Hemant Gupta had noted, at the time, that the Allahabad High Court had long pendency of appeals and some broad parameters would have to be laid down keeping in mind the exigencies of the High Court..Subsequently, both the High Court of Allahabad as well as the Uttar Pradesh government had submitted suggestions on the issue before the Supreme Court. .The Court was informed today that the Allahabad High Court had accepted suggestions made in the matter by the Additional Advocate General for the State of Uttar Pradesh with some modifications..[Read Order]