Bail before jail to protect person’s reputation: SC
Bail before jail to protect person’s reputation: SC
21 May 2009, 0322 hrs IST, TNN
http://timesofindia..indiatimes.com/India/Bail-before-jail-to-protect-persons-reputation-SC/articleshow/4558060.cms
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has stitched a link between a person’s right to life and his reputation and stepped in decisively to protect a person from the ignominy he suffers on being arrested even for lesser offences just because trial courts take time to decide his bail plea.
It said the courts could continue to decide regular bail pleas after perusing the case diaries and other evidences, but it would be well within their jurisdiction and discretional powers to grant interim bail to the accused to protect their reputation from being dented by arrest by the police.
“We reiterate that a court hearing a regular bail application has got inherent power to grant interim bail pending final decision of the bail application. In our opinion, this is in view of Article 21 of the Constitution which protects the life and liberty of every person,” said a Vacation Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Deepak Verma on Monday. The reputation of a person is his valuable asset and is a facet of his right under Article 21 of the Constitution, the bench said.
As per the prevailing practice relating to grant of bail, when a person applies for regular bail then the court concerned lists the application after a few days so that it can look into the case diary which has to be obtained from the police authorities and in the meantime the applicant has to go to jail.
The consequential loss of reputation of the person seeking bail bothered the bench a lot. It said: “Even if the applicant is released on bail thereafter, his reputation may be tarnished irreparably in the society.”
“Hence, we are of the opinion that in the power to grant bail, there is inherent power in the court concerned to grant interim bail to a person pending disposal of the bail application. Of course, it is the discretion of the court concerned to grant interim bail or not, but the power is certainly there,” the bench said.
This order came from the bench in a case where one Sukhwant Singh had appealed against the Punjab and Haryana high court order refusing to grant him anticipatory bail. While disposing his appeal, the bench asked the petitioner to approach the concerned court and make a fresh plea for bail and also a prayer for grant of interim bail.
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Reputation is part and parcel of right to life: SC
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Reputation-is-part-and-parcel-of-right-to-life-SC/articleshow/3710127.cms
Best Regards,
FULL JUDGEMENT
http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1737184/