00:00The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the principle of bail is a rule, jail is the exception, remains applicable
00:06even in cases under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention at a UAPA,
00:12while expressing serious reservations over its own earlier order denying bail to former JNU leader, student leader Omar Khaled.
00:19In the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, the court observed the ruling denying bail to Khaled was to remain incarcerated
00:27since September 2020,
00:30failed to properly apply the principles laid down by the Apex Court on prolonged free trial detention.
00:38Khaled was denied bail in January this year and his review petition was rejected in the month of April.
00:44The court underscored that although Section 43D of the UAPA imposes strict conditions on granting bail in terror-related cases,
00:52those restrictions can't override the constitutional guarantee of personal liberty under Article 21,
01:00therefore reaffirmed the long-standing legal principle that bail is the rule, jail is the exception,
01:07making it clear that courts must not treat denial of bail as automatic merely because the charges are under the
01:16UAPA.
01:17That's what the court has said in a significant ruling.
01:21Remember, this has been something that has been said in the past as well, but it comes as it does
01:27with the court.
01:29Anisha, flagging off improper UAPA ruling, application of the UAPA bail law, saying that bail is the rule, jail is
01:39the exception.
01:40This is a big order from the court, isn't it, today?
01:44Well, Sneha, the Supreme Court, and this is not the first time the Supreme Court has said this,
01:48this is the legal principle that the Supreme Court has followed for decades.
01:52In fact, this bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Nagar Ratna, has specifically flagged the Gulsusha Fatima judgment,
02:00saying that a two-judge bench of the court went very differently from what the three-judge bench order,
02:08which is the principle that is followed, that jail is the rule, jail is the exception.
02:13In fact, the court also flagged the fact that, especially in these kind of cases, NDPS, UAPA, NIA cases,
02:21less than 5% of cases across India end in conviction.
02:27That means in 99, almost 95 to 99% of the cases, after the end of a long, long trial,
02:35people are acquitted.
02:37There is no evidence against them.
02:38And the court, in fact, noted that in Kashmir in particular, where this particular case came from,
02:43the case in which the judgment has been given, Kashmir has less than 1% conviction rate over the last
02:50several years,
02:51according to NCRB data, which means that 99% of cases, people are finally acquitted after having been in jail
02:59for very, very long periods of time during the trial.
03:02And that is why the Supreme Court has flagged this question of law that is being done,
03:08that multiple, the two-judge benches have gone against what the legal principle of bail being the rule and jail
03:15being the exception.
03:16And particularly in the Gulsisha Fatima case, where the Umar Khalid and others were denied bail.
03:23So it's a very interesting proposition that has happened today.
03:26And it's an adverse order on its own previous ruling.
03:28I'm going to leave it there for the moment, Anisha Mathur, getting us the very latest on that big story.
03:33Bail, a rule, jail is the exception, should be the exception, is what the Apex Court has said today.
Comments