The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that while granting bail to the accused person in custody, the court must ensure that onerous and unreasonable conditions ought not to be imposed over an accused for him being admitted to bail because harsh and excessive conditions for bail amounts to a denial of the bail.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the Petitioner is the son of a farmer and the Petitioner was granted bail subject to the conditions that to furnish one of the sureties to be the Government Servant of Class III and above having a permanent job and running salary account since last three years with remaining 5 years of the left services; for being released on bail. The present criminal miscellaneous petition has been filed under Section 482 CrPC in order to modify the portion of the order.
Contentions of the Petitioner
The Petitioner submitted that the trial Court mentioned the reason while granting bail that none of the prosecution witnesses have supported the case of the prosecution and therefore, no stringent conditions should be imposed. It was furthermore submitted that it made it impossible for the Petitioner who is the son of the farmer and a student to be released on bail.
Contentions of the State
The state submitted that nowhere in the Petition is mentioned by the Petitioner that he is a student. It was furthermore submitted that the allegations against the Petitioner are serious in nature.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that It is a well-established legal principle that when granting bail to an accused person in custody, the court must make sure that no onerous or unreasonable conditions are placed on the accused in order for him to be granted bail. This is because strict or excessive conditions for bail equate to the denial of bail.
The court noted that the condition imposed by the learned trial court that one of the sureties must be a government servant of Class III is an onerous and unreasonable condition, which being harsh and excessive, amounts to denying bail,
Based on these considerations, the court was of the opinion that the condition imposed was not sustainable in law. The court directed the Petitioner to be released on bail furnishing bail bond of Rs. 50,000/- with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the court concerned.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court allowed the criminal miscellaneous petition.
Case title: Mithlesh Say @ Mithilesh Say V. The State of Jharkhand
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anil Kumar Choudhary
Case No.: Cr.M.P. No. 1013 of 2024
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. K.S. Nanda, Adv.
Advocate for the State: Mr. Satish Prasad, Addl. PP
Read Judgment @Latestlaws.com
Picture Source :
