At the bail stage, the Court has to tentatively form an opinion by assessing the evidence available on record without going into merits of the case.

 2023 SCMR 1068

At the bail stage, the Court has to tentatively form an opinion by assessing the evidence available on record without going into merits of the case. The deeper appreciation of the evidence cannot be gone into and it is only to be seen whether the accused is prima facie connected with the commission of offence or not. In order to ascertain whether reasonable grounds exist or not the Courts not only have to look at the material placed before them by the prosecution, but see whether some tangible evidence is available against the accused or not to infer guilt. An essential prerequisite for grant of bail by virtue of sub-Section 2 of Section 497 is that the Court must be satisfied on the basis of opinion expressed by the Police or the material placed before it that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is not guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life or imprisonment of 10 years. The mere possibility of further inquiry exists almost in every criminal case. The Court is required to consider overwhelming evidence on record to connect the accused with the commission of the offence and if the answer is in the affirmative he is not entitled to grant of bail.