'Democratic country must not function like police state', says SC; flags rising bail rejections

Expressing concern over rejection of bail pleas by trial courts in "not very serious cases" despite completion of probe, the Supreme Court has said a democratic country must not function like a police state where law enforcement agencies exercised arbitrary powers to detain individuals without genuine necessity.

"It is shocking that the Supreme Court is adjudicating bail pleas in cases that should be disposed of at the trial court level. The system is being burdened unnecessarily," a Bench led by Justice AS Oka said while hearing a bail plea on Monday.

The Bench – which also included Justice Ujjal Bhuyan – noted that two decades ago, bail pleas in smaller cases rarely reached high courts, let alone the SC.

"It is unfortunate that bail matters in cases triable by magistrates are being brought before the Supreme Court. We are sorry to say that people are not getting bail when they should," Justice Oka said, granting bail to a cheating case accused who remained in custody for more than two years.

Both the trial court and the Gujarat High Court had rejected his bail plea, despite the fact that a chargesheet had already been filed after completion of the probe.

The top court has been repeatedly asking trial courts and high courts to be liberal in granting bail, particularly in not so serious cases.

Earlier, it expressed anguish over "intellectual dishonesty" by lower courts in denying bail, despite multiple directives highlighting the importance of protecting individual liberty when custodial detention was not required.

In 2022, it had imposed restrictions on investigative agencies on making arrests in cognizable offences carrying a maximum punishment of up to seven years, if custody was not required.

It had asked lower courts to safeguard individual liberty by ensuring that bail was granted in a fair and timely manner.

An accused — who cooperated with the investigation and was not arrested during the probe — should not be taken into custody after a chargesheet was filed, it had said.