Theme: Bail

What does executing a bail bond mean?

When a person applies for a bail, a person has to keep some money as security with the Court. This is to ensure that the person does not run away while the trial is in progress.

Am I required to sign a bail bond only while trial is in progress?

No, you can be asked to sign a bail bond even after you have been declared not-guilty by the trial court. The court will ask you to sign a bail bond just before the trial gets over. This is because the government can always appeal against the decision. This bond will have sureties and will need you to appear before a higher court if the appeal is filed. This has a 6-month time limit – so if no appeal is filed within that time, you are completely free.

What can I do if the court has rejected my bail application?

You can approach a higher court – Sessions Court or the High Court. These courts have general powers to grant someone bail and to modify bail conditions. You can also try to wait and file another application before the same court. If you are filing another application before the same court, you have to show what change has happened from the time you were refused bail.

I have been in jail for a long time and the trial is still going on. What are my options?

If you have been jail for too long and not been released on bail, your options are:

  • You have a right to be considered for release if your crime was tried by a Magistrate and the trial has not concluded 60 days after the investigation has begun.
  • If you have spent the maximum jail time that could have been imposed on you as per the law for the crime you committed.
  • If you have been in jail for one half of the maximum jail time that could have been imposed on you, the court can still send you back to jail or release you on a bond (with or without sureties).

However, neither of these rules apply if you are accused of a crime attracting the death punishment.

When should I make an application for ‘anticipatory bail’?

You can make this application whenever you have a reason to believe that you might be arrested. It is not necessary that an FIR has been filed against you. The court will first pass a temporary order if it decides that you can be granted such bail. It will then inform the police and the prosecutor. After hearing them, the court may convert your temporary protection into a final order granting anticipatory bail.

What is Bail?

Bail is the temporary release of a person accused of a crime, by the court. The Court allows the accused person to be outside the jail on a condition that they would appear before the Court whenever required and will not commit any crimes. In most cases where bail is granted, a sum of money or property has to be deposited to the Court as a guarantee that the person makes an appearance back in Court whenever they are required.  

Right to Bail

You have a right to bail. This right can be directly exercised in the case of bailable offences. For non-bailable offences, this right is dependent on the discretion of the court.   

The rationale of giving bail is that, if there is no substantial risk of the accused fleeing, then there should be no reason why he should be imprisoned. Granting bail usually comes at an early stage. 

The Court takes into account your gender, health and age while granting you bail. The Court may grant you bail more easily if you fall in the category of the following sets of persons:

  1. Women
  2. Children below the age of sixteen
  3. Sick and Infirm people

 

Understanding Bail

Bail is when an accused assures the police that he will not run away or commit any more crimes if he is released into society. Thus, bail is usually through a :  

  • Bail Bond 

A bail bond is the money that a person must deposit with the court when they have been granted bail. It is to make sure that the person does not run away. The amount might be less or more, depending upon the nature of the crime. In case you don’t have money, your property can be attached to get bail. This deposit of money or attachment of property is mandatory for bail. The Court may ask the person to not leave the territory of the country and report to the court whenever he is required to do so under the Bond. 

  • Personal Bond

In certain cases, while granting a person bail, the Court may not ask them to submit a bail bond, but instead release them on their own promise, or what is commonly known as a personal bond. Bail can be granted on a personal bond either with or without sureties. Courts have discretion in the matter so they may release the accused by taking only a personal bond without insisting for a surety. 

 

  • Surety

When you approach the court for bail, sometimes the court wants sufficient guarantees to ensure you won’t run away. The court may ask you to get some people to take this responsibility. The same person does not have to always remain a surety. A person acting as a surety can apply to be ‘discharged’ from their position of a surety.  In such a circumstance, you will need to replace the surety. You will need to get another person to the Court to sign as your new surety. If you can’t replace the surety, you will be taken into custody.

Refusal of Bail

For non-bailable offences the Court can refuse to grant you bail when the punishment for the crime you have committed has: 

  • Death penalty,
  • Prison for life,
  • Jail time of more than 7 years,
  • If the offence is cognizable, 
  • Been convicted previously on two or more occasions of a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment of three years or more but not less than seven years.

 

Cancelling Bail

In cases where the Court feels that during the various stages of the proceeding, a person is:

  • Intimidating, bribing or tampering with the witnesses,
  • Trying to abscond or flee. 

Then the Court may cancel the bail, and re-arrest the person. This is applicable to both bailable and non-bailable offences. Cancellation happens if the person’s conduct subsequent to his release may hamper the proceedings of the case and the possibility of a fair trial. 

Bail for Non-Bailable Crimes

Some cases where you can be granted bail when charged with a non-bailable offence are:

  • If it appears to the officer or the court at any stage of the inquiry or trial that the accused has not committed the non-bailable offence, then the accused can be granted bail. 
  • If the trial of a person accused with non bailable offence takes more than 60 days, and the person has been in jail all this while, then the court can release him and grant him bail.

Anticipatory Bail

The law allows a person to apply for bail even when he has not been arrested, but fears arrest in the near future. This type of bail is known as anticipatory bail. The police cannot arrest a person who has an anticipatory bail order.  

 

Anticipatory bail will kick in only when an FIR is filed against you or if the police have come to arrest on the basis of the FIR. It isn’t available in all states; such as Uttar Pradesh in cases of crimes against women.  

 

Often, fake and frivolous cases are filed against other people. This leads to harming of reputation and time of other persons. To avoid such problems, a person, if they have reasons to believe that they may be arrested for a non-bailable offence in the future, can apply for bail in the High Court or the Court of Session even before they are arrested. If the court finds good reasons for this bail application, then the court may allow for bail. When an application for anticipatory bail is finally being heard, it is compulsory for the person applying for this bail to be present before the Court. 

 

The protection provided by this type of bail is only for a limited period and generally till the police have framed the charges against you. However, one can make an application to the High Court to have this period of anticipatory bail extended.

 

Conditions for Applying for Anticipatory Bail

The person who is applying for anticipatory bail has to satisfy or promise to satisfy the following conditions:

 

  • The person should make themselves available for interrogation by a police officer when required.
  • The person should not, directly, or indirectly induce, threaten or promise any person who knows the facts of the case to stop them from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer.
  • The person should not leave India without the prior permission of the court.
  • Other conditions are similar to that of regular bail.

 

Maximum Jail Time Without Bail

People who are in jail while their trial is going on are called under-trials prisoners. As trials in India go on for years together, under-trial prisoners should be protected from being in jails for long periods of time without being proved guilty of committing the crime. The law has provisions of Bail to protect undertrials. 

If a person has been arrested for a crime and has been in prison while undergoing trial for up to half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for the crime that they have committed, the Court must order to release them. 

However, if the Court find enough reasons, it can order continued detention of the under-trial prisoner, even after they have been in prison for one half of the punishment.