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Context
- The Supreme Court (SC) while granting bail to former Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul in a case of alleged corruption said that Personal liberty cannot be bargained at the altar of what the state may perceive as justice.
The default bail
- A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur, in a majority ruling of 2:1, said Mr. Paul was entitled to ‘default bail’ and the trial judge should release him on such terms as may be reasonable.
- In the majority verdict, the court said that “in matters of personal liberty, we cannot and should not be too technical and must lean in favour of personal liberty”.
- The apex court was hearing the plea filed by Mr. Paul after his bail pleas were rejected by the Gauhati High Court twice.
- In his dissenting verdict, Justice P.C. Pant held that the accusations did not reveal merely an economic offence but it showed a transgression of the constitutional rights of the victims of the crime.
