Bail cannot be cancelled only because accused did not personally appear before court: Supreme Court

Bail granted to an accused cannot be canceled only because the accused did not appear in person before a court, the Supreme Court recently held [Krishna Kumar Sharma vs State of West Bengal and anr]..A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta also made it clear that the considerations for grant of bail and cancellation of bail are different."We find that merely because the appellant did not appear personally could not have been a ground for cancellation of bail. The parameters for grant of bail and cancellation of bail are totally different. The bail already granted may be cancelled, if it is found that the person who has been granted the benefit of bail has violated any of the conditions or misused the liberty by influencing the witnesses or tampering with the evidence," the bench explained..It, therefore, restored the bail granted to a man accused of cheating and forgery.The bail applicant (accused) had submitted that he could not attend Calcutta High Court proceedings on September 6 last year as there was traffic jam due to VIP movements.Further, his counsel could not remain present on the said day as his memorandum of appearance (vakalatnama) was withdrawn the previous day. The High Court, however, had proceeded to cancel his bail leading to the instant appeal before the top court.The top court noted that the order under challenge did not refer to the standard grounds for cancellation of bail in its order."Nothing of that sort is recorded in the impugned judgment. We therefore set aside the impugned order," the Supreme Court said. .The appeal was, thus, allowed..Advocates Ashok K Singh, Ankita Baluni, Vinita Singh, Anchal Bindal, and Aftab Ali Khan appeared for the bail applicant, one Krishna Kumar Sharma.Advocates Atarup Banerjee, Arindam Sen, Sunando Raha, Sampriti B, and Anupam Raina appeared for the complainant.Advocates Srisatya Mohanty, Lihzu Shiney Konyak, and Astha Sharma represented the West Bengal government..[Read order]