Case Diaries Must Be Made Available Immediately After Filing Bail Application To Facilitate Decisions From First Hearing Itself: J&K High Court

Observing that bail applications should ideally be decided on the first date of hearing by this Court a bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan underscored,

“The same is possible only if the case diary is made available for the scrutiny by the Court on the very first date of hearing”.

Passing general directions to the Advocate General office on the subject the court stated that whenever a bail application is filed before this court and the copy of the same is received by the Advocate General office, the appropriate case diary, relevant in the case, shall be called forthwith from the Police Station concerned.

Justice Sreedharan passed these directions while hearing a bail petition filed by Gorav Sayal, accused of rape under Section 376 of the IPC. The case highlighted the delay in both the FIR filing (six months after the alleged incident) and the bail application hearing (pending since December 2022).

Justice Sreedharan pointed out the lack of a legal requirement for the state to file written objections in every bail application. He stressed that bail decisions should be based solely on the material present in the case diary.

“In a bail application, there is no necessity to give an opportunity to the State to file written objections, as such, is not the mandate under the law. The same may be required only in those cases where a special statute requires it specifically. Bail applications must be decided on the basis of the material in the case diary. If this be the procedure that is followed, there should be no delay in deciding bail applications by the High Court”, the bench underscored.

In this specific case, the court noted the lengthy detention period (over 1.5 years), the delayed FIR, and the inconclusive MLC report. Considering these factors, bail was granted with certain conditions, including a bond and regular appearances at the designated police station.

Case Title: Gorav Sayal Vs UT of J&K

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (JKL) 176

Click Here To Read/Download Judgment