Shri Krishna Sharma V. State of West Bengal, 2024:
Bail cannot be cancelled merely due to non-appearance of accused before the Court
Background:
Bail under Section 436 of the CrPC 1973, is a very important provision under Article 21 “Right to life and Liberty” according to our Constitution. The Supreme Court said that not granting Bail is also a violation of right to life and liberty of a person. Similarly if bail is granted once Court cannot cancelled the bail without any proper reason. There is some conditions by which bail is granted to a person, i.e., surrender of passport, not to violate any law, not to involve any offence, not to disturb victim, not to suppress or influence the witnesses relating to the case etc. If any of these conditions are violated the bail will be
cancelled by the Court.
Facts of the Case:
The petitioner of this matter, got his bail in a matter from the High Court of Kolkata. After granting the bail the accused was called to appear before the Court, but due to the huge traffic, the accused was unable to appear before the Ld. Court on time. The High Court of Kolkata cancelled the bail of that accused for this reason. Being aggrieved by this decision of the Ld. Court the accused filed a petition in the Ld. Supreme Court.
Judgement of the Supreme Court:
The three judge bench of the Supreme Court after reviewing all the petitions, submissions and arguments of the both parties came into this conclusion that if bail has been granted, the same can be cancelled if any conditions are violated or liberty is misused. The SC said that merely because the appellant did not appear personally before the Ld. Court on time that could not have been a ground for cancellation of bail. The parameters for granting bail and cancellation of bail are totally different matter. The bail already granted only be cancelled, if it is found that the person has violated any of the conditions or misused
the liberty by influencing the witnesses or tampering the evidence.
Conclusion:
Thus the SC set aside the rejection of bail order passed by the Kolkata High Court by observing the fact that “bail cannot be cancelled merely due to non-appearance of accused before the Court”.