Supreme Court Issues Directions To Avoid Delay In Release Of Prisoners After Getting Bail [Read 7 Directions]

The Supreme Court has issued the following guidelines on the issue of undertrial prisoners who continue to be in custody despite having been granted the benefit of bail on account of their inability to fulfill the conditions stipulated in the bail order or otherwise. 

“1)The Court which grants bail to an undertrial prisoner/convict would be required to send a soft copy of the bail order by e-mail to the prisoner through the Jail Superintendent on the same day or the next day. The Jail Superintendent would be required to enter the date of grant of bail in the e-prisons software [or any other software which is being used by the Prison Department].

2) If the accused is not released within a period of 7 days from the date of grant of bail, it would be the duty of the Superintendent of Jail to inform the Secretary, DLSA who may depute para legal volunteer or jail visiting advocate to interact with the prisoner and assist the prisoner in all ways possible for his release.

3) NIC would make attempts to create necessary fields in the e-prison software so that the date of grant of bail and date of release are entered by the Prison Department and in case the prisoner is not released within 7 days, then an automatic email can be sent to the Secretary, DLSA.

4) The Secretary, DLSA with a view to find out the economic condition of the accused, may take help of the Probation Officers or the Para Legal Volunteers to prepare a report on the socio-economic conditions of the inmate which may be placed before the concerned Court with a request to relax the condition (s) of bail/surety.

5) In cases where the undertrial or convict requests that he can furnish bail bond or sureties once released, then in an appropriate case, the Court may consider granting temporary bail for a specified period to the accused so that he can furnish bail bond or sureties.

6) If the bail bonds are not furnished within one month from the date of grant bail, the concerned Court may suo moto take up the case and consider whether the conditions of bail require modification/ relaxation.

7) One of the reasons which delays the release of the accused/ convict is the insistence upon local surety. It is suggested that in such cases, the courts may not impose the condition of local surety.”

The above directions are part of the detailed and comprehensive suggestions submitted to court by by the three Amici Curiae viz. Advocates Gaurav Agrawal, Liz Mathew and Devansh A. Mohta, after discussion with ASG K. M. Nataraj.

The bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka also observed in the order that the Government of India should discuss with NALSA whether it would give access to the e-prison portal on a protected basis to the Secretaries of the SLSAs and DLSAs which would facilitate better follow up with the prison authorities. ASG KM Nataraj assured the bench that granting permission wouldn't be a problem, however, he would seek instructions and get back to the court on the next date of hearing. 

During the last hearing, the court had issued detailed guidelines on disposing cases through plea bargaining, compounding of offences & Probation Of Offenders Act. The court posted the hearing to March.   

Thanking the Amicus Curiae for their hard work in assisting the court, Justice Kaul, after passing the orders said, “All of you, the Amicus, the ASG are doing more work I think to sort out this issue than could be done if the number of courts would only be hearing this issue”

Case Title: In Re Policy Strategy for Grant of Bail SMW (Crl.) No. 4/2021

Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 76

Bail bond- Supreme Court issues seven directions to avoid delay in release of prisoners after getting bail

Click here to read/download the order