Trial Judges Reluctant To Grant Bail, They Should Be Assured That Their Judgments Won't Be Held Against Them : Kapil Sibal

Senior Advocate and the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Kapil Sibal emphasized the importance of empowering trial courts, district and sessions courts in India.

He added that the trial judges must be instilled with the confidence that their judgments won't be held against them. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the National Conference of the District Judiciary, Sibal said :

"Our trial court, district and sessions courts need to be empowered to deliver justice without fear or fervour. Unless people at the bottom of the pyramid have the ability to withstand the pressure, the superstructure of the polity will not be able to deliver. I don't want to call the judiciary at the level of trial and district courts "subordinate", because the judges who are sitting there deliver justice and the question of being "subordinate" to any authority is a contradiction in terms.

The judiciary at that level should be instilled with the confidence that their judicial pronouncements shall never be held against them and that they represent the spinal cord of the justice delivery system. They should have the flexibility and independence to deliver justice without fear or favour.

The fact that the trial court and the district courts are loath to grant bail in matters of some significance is itself symptomatic of the malaise that has set in. In the course of my career, I have seldom witnessed the grant of bail at that level. This is not just my experience but even the Chief Justice of India has said often enough that the Courts at the highest level are burdened with matters of bail because, at the level of trial courts and district and sessions courts, bail seems to be an exception. Of course, it goes without saying that the grant of bail is dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case,".

In this context, Sibal mentioned that some recent judgments of the Supreme Court have re-affirmed that bail should be the rule even in special statutes like PMLA and UAPA.

"Liberty is the foundational substratum of a thriving democracy and any attempt to throttle it impacts the quality of our democracy," Sibal said.

In his address, Sibal also touched upon some of the problems ailing the district judiciary. The judge-to-population ratio in India, 21 judges for one million, is abysmally low. For context, in some European countries, the ratio is 200 judges for one million.  He said that the district judiciary needs to be strengthened qualitatively and quantitatively, both in terms of manpower and infrastructure. Because of the low judicial strength, the district judiciary's roster is overburdened.

He also said that the abysmal working conditions discourage many youngsters from joining the judicial service.

"Unless we are able to improve their conditions of work, both in terms of salary and infrastructure, the quantity and quality of the justice delivery system will suffer," Sibal said. He highlighted the problems relating to low pension, lack of promotional avenues, lack of a conducive work environment for women, technological handicaps etc, which discourage young and bright law graduates from national law schools from joining the judicial services.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrahud, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, BCI Chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra also spoke at the event.