Supreme Court Asks Bombay HC To Decide Bail Applications Expeditiously, Says Not Deciding Matters Of Personal Liberty Violates Article 21

The Supreme Court requested the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court to convey its request to all the Judges of the Bombay High Court exercising the criminal jurisdiction to decide the matter pertaining to bail/anticipatory bail as expeditiously as possible.

“We, therefore, request the Hon'ble the Chief Justice of the High Court of Bombay to convey our request to all the learned Judges exercising the criminal jurisdiction to decide the matter pertaining to bail/anticipatory bail as expeditiously as possible.”, the Supreme Court Bench Comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said.

In the instant case, the accused, being in custody for over seven years, had preferred a bail application before the Bombay High Court, however, the Bombay High Court without hearing the application on merit has asked the applicant to approach the trial court to seek bail.

Challenging the decision of the High Court, the accused preferred the criminal appeal before the Supreme Court, where in a previous order dated 29.01.2024, the Supreme Court expressed concern over the non-exercise of jurisdiction vested in the High Court to decide the bail application on merits. The Supreme Court restored the case with the High Court while setting aside the impugned order. Besides, it also requested the High Court to decide the matter on merits within two weeks.

Although the Bombay High Court had granted bail to the accused-appellant on merits in compliance with the Supreme Court's order, however, the Supreme Court notes that “We have also come across numerous matters wherein the learned Judges are not deciding the matter on merits but find an excuse to shunt the case on different grounds.”

“We have come across various matters from the High Court of Bombay where the bail/anticipatory bail applications are not being decided expeditiously. We have also come across one matter SLP Crl….@ Diary No.1540/2024 (Ashok Balwant Patil v. Mohan Madhukar Patil and Ors), wherein the application for anticipatory bail was not decided for a period of more than four years.”, the Supreme Court stated.

The Supreme Court further observed that the non-deciding of bail application expeditiously deprives the accused of fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“Needless to state that Article 21 of the Constitution of India is the soul of the Constitution as the liberty of a citizen is of paramount importance. Not deciding the matter pertaining to liberty of a citizen expeditiously and shunting away the matter on one or the other ground would deprive the party of their precious right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”

The Supreme Court directed its Registrar (Judicial) to communicate this order to the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court, who shall place the same before the Chief Justice of High Court of Bombay.

Case Title: AMOL VITTHAL VAHILE vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA., Diary No.- 41564 – 2023

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 159

Click here to read the order