Source: The post is based on the article “To jail or not to sail isn’t such a difficult decision” published in the Live Mint on 27th July 2022.
Syllabus: GS 2 Important Provisions of the Constitution of India
Relevance: Fundamental Rights: Right to personal liberty
News: Recently, The Supreme court of India granted bail to a fact-checker. He was arrested for tweeting a still from a 1983 Hindi film.
The fact-checker was trapped in a loop of multiple cases which were lodged against him in two states. Therefore, he was subjected to rounds of arrest, bail pleas, and dock hearings.
What are the key takeaways from the Supreme Court’s ruling in this regard?
“The machinery of criminal justice was being relentlessly employed” against the accused. Thus, the process of criminal justice has itself become the punishment for the accused.
An arrest is not meant to be and must not be used as a punitive tool because it results in the loss of personal liberty.
When the power to arrest is exercised by the law agencies without application of mind and without due regard to the law, it amounts to an abuse of power.
Issues in the Indian Criminal Justice System
(1) Mindless arrests and jails have become one of the features of criminal justice in the country.
(2) Over 75% of Indian prisoners are under-trials, locked up for months and years in the prisons without their case coming to trial.
(3) Further, two-thirds of those locked up as under-trials belong to marginalized castes and tribes.
(4) Many lack the means to access legal aid, take on the maze, or even put-up bail money.
(5) Despite the top judiciary’s vocal activism, the lower judiciary’s rulings continue to violate the personal liberty of the citizen accused in cases.
(6) In harsh anti-terror laws, the judiciary at all levels has appeared hesitant to grant bail.
What are the suggestions for reforms by the judiciary?
(1) Fair trials and respect for personal liberty should be the cornerstones of democracy.
(2) The Judges must pay heed to the first principles of criminal procedure when it comes to arrests, i.e., “bail, not jail”. They must not be put behind bars for long stints if they pose no danger of influencing the probe, or escape.
(3) A comprehensive law on bail which recognizes a right to bail must be framed. Such law should be modeled on similar legislation in the UK.
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