‘Bail is the Rule and Jail is the Exception,’ Even in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA): Supreme Court

Today (August 28, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan held that even in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), ‘bail is the rule and jail is the exception’. This was said by the top court while granting bail to an alleged aide of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, one Prem Prakash, in a money laundering case. The operative part of the judgment reads, “All that Section 45 PMLA mentions is that certain conditions are to be satisfied. The principle that bail is the rule and jail is the exception is only a paraphrasing of Article 21 of the Constitution of India which states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by the law. Liberty of the individual is always the rule and deprivation is the exception. Deprivation can be made only by the procedure established by the law which has to be valid and reasonable. Section 45 PMLA by imposing twin conditions does not rewrite this principle to mean that deprivation is the norm and liberty is the exception. All that is required is that in cases where bail is subject to the satisfaction of the twin conditions, those conditions must be satisfied.” Moreover, Justice Viswanathan, while pronouncing the judgment, said, “We have held that even in PMLA, bail is the rule and jail is the exception”. It added that the appellant was not prima facie guilty of the offences and is unlikely to temper with the evidence. Hence, the SC bench granted bail to Prakash subject to furnishing bail bond of ₹5 lakh and other conditions to be set by the trial court.