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Ali Ahmad v. The State of Bihar

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 723Decided 12 Nov 2021
Criminal Appeal No. 1374 of 2021
Justice K.M. Joseph · Justice P.S. Narasimha

Background

The appellant, a complainant in a murder case, challenged High Court orders that released two persons, who had been convicted under Section 302 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment, on bail while their appeals against conviction were pending. His case was that the mandatory procedure under the first proviso to Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires the court to give the Public Prosecutor a specific opportunity to object in writing before releasing someone convicted of a serious offence, had not properly been followed by the High Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed that the first proviso to Section 389 CrPC lays down a mandatory procedure that must be followed whenever a court considers releasing on bail a person convicted of an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment, or ten years or more, and found that this procedure had not been properly complied with in the impugned orders despite the prosecutor being generally heard. It set aside the High Court's bail orders and directed the High Court to reconsider the bail applications afresh, strictly following the Section 389 procedure, within six weeks, while allowing the convicts to remain on bail without surrendering in the meantime and expressly not commenting on the merits of bail itself. A third connected appeal, which had been kept pending by the High Court merely because of this related matter, was also disposed of with similar directions for prompt reconsideration.

Lesson Learnt

Before a person convicted of a serious crime can be released on bail while their appeal is pending, the law requires the court to give the prosecution a specific, written opportunity to object: a bail order that skips this safeguard can be struck down on procedure alone, regardless of its outcome on the merits.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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