The Law Governing Bail in India and Need of Changing Dimension under Criminal Procedure Code

Abstract

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, we have certain provisions that are referred to as bail in one way or another. The fundamental provisions for awarding bail and bonds in criminal cases are sections 436 and 450 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 1. Along with all of these sections, the Cr. PC also specifies a number of circumstances in which release on bail is permitted, including, among other things, the right to release on bond if the investigation is not completed in the designated number of days. Following the idea that every accused person is innocent before he or she is proven guilty, bail is one of the prized rights, claims, or advantages of an accused person. The High Courts and the trial court reached very different conclusions about bail. In the majority of circumstances, the High Court will accept bail after the trial court denies the defendant's request for bail. The court’s worries about prison crowding were not unfounded – the latest (2021) occupancy rates stand at 130.2%, up from 118% in the previous year2. India currently has the sixth highest share of pre-trial detainees in the world, according to data collated by the World Prison Brief3.There is a strong need felt for a complete review of the bail system keeping in mind the socio-economic condition of the majority of our population4. The Law Commission made Recommendations to reform thirteen different areas of bail jurisprudence5. The present cruel bail system in India is inhuman where grant of police custody remand appears to be cruel, outdated and is a real hell of a situation6. It is urgently necessary to comprehensively rejuvenate India's bail jurisprudence also.