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Vinod @ Sai D. Ghogale v. The State of Maharashtra

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 988Decided 3 Oct 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 1724 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

The appellant had been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment and had already served more than seven years in custody while his appeal was pending. A co-accused who was "exactly similarly placed" as him had already been granted bail by the Court, but the appellant's own request for bail had been refused, prompting him to approach the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that the appellant was in materially the same position as the co-accused who had already been released on bail, and that he had already served the bulk of his sentence while the High Court appeal remained pending. On this basis, finding no reason to treat him differently from his co-accused, the Court granted him bail, subject to furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 25,000 with two solvent sureties of the like amount, and disposed of the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

Courts place strong weight on consistency: if a co-accused in an identical position has already been granted bail, that is itself a compelling ground for extending the same relief to the other accused, especially where a long sentence has already been substantially served.

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

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