The Bench was hearing a case regarding compliance of its July 2022 judgment in Satender Antil, where it had, among other things, emphasised the need to enforce provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in arrests and trials.
Pertinently, the Bench in that judgment had called for a new bail legislation and said that courts should decide bail applications within two weeks, except in cases where the law provides otherwise.
It had ruled that the mandate under Sections 41 and 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) should be strictly complied with, and that non-compliance would entitle accused to bail.
It had also flagged the fact that the rate of conviction being abysmally low might be weighing in the minds of courts while deciding bail applications.
A slew of directions were ordered to be forwarded to all states and union territories, who were also directed to file affidavits/status reports within a period of four months.
The judgment had come in a plea where the Court had initially taken note of the ‘continuous supply of cases seeking bail after filing of the final report on a wrong interpretation of Section 170 of the Code of Criminal Procedure‘.
Source: Barandbench
