Can Accused Be Directed To Pay Compensation To Victim As A Condition To Grant Bail? Supreme Court To Examine Scope Of Section 357 & 357A CrPC Before Trial

Can a Court direct an accused to pay compensation to victims as a condition to grant bail? The Supreme Court will examine this issue raised in a special leave petition filed against a Gujarat High Court order.

In this case, the Gujarat High Court, while granting bail to a murder accused observed that the heirs/representatives of the deceased of victim(s) is required to be compensated in terms of the amended provisions of law. "Considering the nature of allegations made against the applicants in the FIR, without discussing the evidence in detail, prima facie, this Court is of the opinion that this is a fit case to exercise the discretion and enlarge the applicants on regular bail on condition that the applicants shall deposit Rs. 2 lakhs each towards compensation to the victim(s) before the learned trial Court within a period of three months.", it was observed.

Before the Apex Court bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari, and Hrishikesh Roy, it was submitted that Sections 357 and 357-A of the Criminal Procedure Code would apply only at the stage of conviction and not at the stage of grant of bail so far as payment of compensation to the victims are concerned.

We would like to examine the aforesaid issue as also the issue whether this is a fit case for grant of bail at all, the court said while issuing notice returnable in two weeks.

Section 357 of the Code deals with Order to pay compensation.  It provides that, when a Court imposes a sentence of fine or a sentence (including a sentence of death) of which fine forms a part, the Court may, when passing judgment, order the whole or any part of the fine recovered to be applied—(a) in defraying the expenses of properly incurred in the prosecution; (b) in the payment to any person of compensation for any loss or injury caused by the offence, when compensation is, in the opinion of the Court, recoverable by such person in a Civil Court; (c) when any person is convicted of any offence for having caused the death of another person or of having abetted the commission of such an offence, in paying compensation to the persons who are, under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 (13 of 1855), entitled to recover damages from the person sentenced for the loss resulting to them from such death; (d) when any person is convicted of any offence which includes theft, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, or cheating, or of having dishonestly received or retained, or of having voluntarily assisted in disposing of, stolen property knowing or having reason to believe the same to be stolen, in compensating any bona fide purchaser of such property for the loss of the same if such property is restored to the possession of the person entitled thereto.

In 2009, the code was amended to incorporate Section 357A to provide a Victim compensation scheme. This empowers the Court to direct the State to pay compensation to the victim in such cases where "the compensation awarded Under Section 357 is not adequate for such rehabilitation, or where the case ends in acquittal or discharge and the victim has to be rehabilitated."

The Jharkhand High Court, in an order passed last year, had held that  an order under Section 357A cannot be passed at the stage of granting bail.

CASE: DHARMESH @ DHARMENDRA @ DHAMO JAGDISHBHAI @ JAGABHAI BHAGUBHAI RATADIA vs. STATE OF GUJARAT [SLP (Crl.) No(s). 673/2021]

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