Bail cannot be withheld as punishment. The expression "reasonable grounds" as contained under Section 497, Cr.P.C., necessitated the prosecution to show that it is in possession .......

(1) Bail cannot be withheld as punishment.

(2) Accused is presumed to be innocent unless found guilty.

(3) The prosecution has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and this principle applies at all stages including the pre-trial stage and even at the time of deciding bail.

Crl.P.1054/2023
Akhtar v. Khwas Khan and another
2023 S C M R 476

 The expression "reasonable grounds" as contained under Section 497, Cr.P.C., necessitated the prosecution to show that it is in possession of sufficient material or evidence to demonstrate that accused had committed an offence falling within the prohibitory limb of Section 497, Cr.P.C. However for seeking the concession of bail, the accused person has to show that the material or evidence collected during investigation against him creates reasonable doubt or suspicion in the prosecution case. While deciding bail applications, it is the foremost duty of the Courts to apply a judicious mind tentatively for reaching the just and proper conclusion regarding whether reasonable grounds are made out or not to enlarge the accused on bail, and the expression ‘reasonable grounds’ signifies and corresponds to the grounds which are legally rational, acceptable in evidence and attractive to the judicial mind, as opposed to being imaginative, fallacious and/or presumptuous. Whenever reasonable doubt ascends with regard to the involvement of an accused person in the crime or about the certainty or probability of the prosecution case and the evidence proposed to be produced in support of the charge in Court during trial, the accused should not be deprived of the benefit of bail and it would be better to keep him on bail than in jail. The basic idea is to enable the accused to answer the criminal prosecution against him rather than to make him rot behind bars. The accused is entitled to expeditious access to justice, which includes the right to a fair and expeditious trial without any unreasonable or inordinate delay. Certain basic principles regarding grant or refusal of bail are settled i.e. that bail cannot be withheld as punishment; every person is presumed to be innocent unless found guilty by a competent court; every person is entitled to a fair trial, which includes a trial without inordinate delay; and that the basic philosophy of criminal jurisprudence is that the prosecution has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and this principle applies at all stages including the pre-trial stage, and even at the time of deciding whether the accused is entitled to bail or not.

It is a well settled notion of law that further inquiry is a question which must have some nexus with the result of the case for which a tentative assessment of the material on record is to be considered for reaching a just conclusion. It pre-supposes the tentative assessment which may create doubt with respect to the involvement of the accused in the crime. The law of bails is not a stagnant law but is developing with the exigencies of time.

Crl.P.1054/2023
Akhtar v. Khwas Khan and another
2023 S C M R 476