Bail Cannot be Denied Merely on the Ground that the Trial will be Expedited: Supreme Court

On September 02 (Yesterday), the Supreme Court bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih said that bail cannot be denied merely on the ground that the trial will be expedited. This was observed while issuing notice in a Special Leave Petition (SLP) by a dacoity accused against the Calcutta High Court’s decision that ordered to expedite the trial and reject the bail plea. The SC bench, in its order, said, “In the case of High Court Bar Association, Allahabad v. State of UP and Ors., a Constitution Bench of this court has taken a view that as a matter of rule High Court or for that matter this court should not fix time bound schedule for conduct of a case and said approach can be adopted only in exceptional cases. Notwithstanding the pronouncement of law by Constitution Bench of this court, we have noticed that several High Courts while rejecting bail are fixing time-bound schedules for conduct of trial. It cannot be that bail is denied on the ground that trial will be disposed of expeditiously. Issue notice returnable on 4th October.”