Trial Courts & High Courts Try To Play Safe In Bail Matters, Have Forgotten 'Bail Is The Rule' : Supreme Court In Manish Sisodia's Case

While allowing the bail plea of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in relation to the liquor policy case, the Supreme Court today lamented that Trial Courts and High Courts in the country have forgotten the principle that 'bail is the rule, jail an exception' and attempt to play safe.

"From our experience, we can say that it appears that the trial Courts and the High Courts attempt to play safe in the matters of grant of bail. The principle that bail is a rule and refusal an exception is at times followed in breach...on account of non-grant of bail, even in open-and-shut cases, this court is getting huge number of bail petitions thereby adding to the huge pendency. It is high time that the trial Courts and the high Courts should recognise that bail is the rule and jail an exception", said the bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan.

In the facts of Sisodia's case, the Court observed that the Trial Court and the Delhi High Court failed to observe the well-settled principle that bail is the rule and jail is an exception. It also reiterated that bail is not to be withheld as punishment.

"As observed time and again, the prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial."

Stressing on Sisodia's long incarceration of about 18 months, and the delay in trial occasioned despite an assurance given by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on June 4, 2024 that investigation would be concluded and chargesheet filed by July 3, the Court remarked that relegating Sisodia back to the trial Court and the High Court (as suggested by ASG SV Raju) would amount to putting him through a game of snakes and ladders.

"In the present case, 493 witnesses have been named. The case involves thousands of pages of documents, and over a lakh pages of digitalized documents. It is thus clear that there is not even remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in near future. In our view, keeping the appellant behind the bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of speedy completion of trial would deprive fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of Constitution."

Case Title:

[1] Manish Sisodia v. Directorate of Enforcement, SLP(Crl) No. 8781/2024;

[2] Manish Sisodia v. Central Bureau of Investigation, SLP(Crl) No. 8772/2024