The judgment came in an appeal against certain conditions imposed by the Delhi High Court while granting interim bail to a Nigerian national, Frank Vitus, who was accused in a drugs case.
As a condition for the grant of bail, the High Court had ordered the accused man and a co-accused to drop a pin on Google Maps so that their location was available to the investigation officer.
The accused were also asked to get an assurance from the High Commission of Nigeria that the accused would not leave India and would appear before the trial court.
This condition has also now been deleted by the apex court.
The Court clarified that such a certificate from the Embassy is not required in all cases where a foreign national is granted bail due to delays in concluding a criminal trial. It will depend on the facts of each case, the Court said.
The Court explained that the accused generally has no control over whether the Embassy would give such an assurance, or whether the Embassy would respond to such requests in a timely manner.
In such cases, the accused cannot be made to remain in jail despite being entitled to bail and courts have the power to delete such a condition, the Supreme Court said.
“In such a case, instead of the condition of obtaining such a certificate, the condition of surrendering the passport and regularly reporting to the local station/ Trial Court can always be imposed, depending on the facts of each case,” the Court suggested.
Source: Barandbench
