The Supreme Court has said that the liberty of an individual is “sacrosanct” and an application seeking bail must be taken up for hearing as quickly as possible.
A bench consisting of Justices Ajay Rastogi and A S Oka further said no time limit can be fixed for applications seeking pre-arrest or post-arrest bail but the minimal which can be expected is that such pleas should be heard at the earliest.
In its order passed last week, the bench said, “We are not going into the issue at the moment, but the liberty of an individual is sacrosanct and we expect that if an application is filed either pre or post-arrest, under sections 438/439 of the CrPC, it must be taken up as expeditiously as possible.”
The supreme court bench said this while hearing a plea filed by an accused who was taken into custody this year March in connection with a case registered at Punjab’s Patiala district, urging the Apex court that his application seeking bail which is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court should be heard soon.
The accused had filed a plea seeking post-arrest bail before the high court on July 7. The bench also noted that a sessions had earlier dismissed his bail application.
The petitioner’s lawyer told the bench that the matter was listed before the court several times but it was not heard.
Disposing the plea, the top court bench requested the high court to consider the petitioner’s bail application “as expeditiously as possible”.
The accused was taken into custody in connection with the case registered on March 30 this year for the alleged offences under several sections, including 304 of the Indian Penal Code.
(Inputs from PTI)
