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Udhaw Singh v. Enforcement Directorate

Criminal Appeal · 2025 INSC 247Decided 17 Feb 2025
Criminal Appeal No. 799 of 2025 (arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 18369 of 2024)
Justice Abhay S. Oka · Justice Ujjal Bhuyan

Background

The appellant was arrested and had been in custody for about 1 year and 2 months on a money-laundering charge under Section 3 of the PMLA. The prosecution had listed 225 witnesses to be examined at trial, but only one had been examined so far, making it clear the trial would not conclude for years. He sought bail primarily on the ground that his continued detention without a realistic prospect of a timely trial violated his right to a speedy trial.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court applied its earlier ruling in V. Senthil Balaji v. Deputy Director, ED, which holds that where a PMLA trial cannot realistically conclude within a reasonable time, constitutional courts can grant bail under Article 21 despite PMLA's stringent bail conditions, since the law does not permit indefinite pre-trial detention. Finding that 224 of 225 witnesses remained unexamined and the trial had no realistic end in sight, and with the Solicitor General fairly conceding the point, the Court granted bail, directing the appellant's release on appropriate conditions including regular court attendance and surrender of his passport.

Lesson Learnt

Even under stringent laws like the PMLA that make bail hard to get, a court can still grant bail if the trial is dragging on for years with no realistic end in sight: the constitutional right to a speedy trial and personal liberty can override a statute's tough bail conditions in such cases.

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

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