Regular Bail – Filing, Appropriate Court, Grounds, Duration, Appeal, Cancellation

A regular bail is sought after an accused has been arrested by the police / investigating agency. When a person is arrested, he has to be produced before a Magistrate within 24 hours of arrest. The Magistrate can then send the accused to either police or judicial custody. At this point in time, a regular bail application is filed seeking release of the accused on bail from the custody.

FILING

A regular bail application can be filed when the accused is in police or judicial custody. It can be filed on behalf of the accused by his pairokar (a close relative).

APPROPRIATE COURT

It can be filed before the Magistrate who had granted custody of the accused except in cases of prosecution under certain special laws like NDPS Act, PMLA etc. in which case the bail application is filed before Special Courts designated under those Acts. Also, there are very less (negligible) chances of getting a bail from a Magistrate’s court in serious offences which are punishable with life imprisonment or death sentence. [Refer Prahlad Singh Bhati vs. NCT, Delhi, (2001) 4 SCC 280]

REMEDY IN CASE OF REJECTION OF REGULAR BAIL APPLICATION

If a bail application is rejected by the Magistrate, second regular bail application can be filed before Sessions Court (at district level). If the second regular bail is also rejected, third regular bail application can be filed before the High Court (at state level).

Even though all the courts have concurrent jurisdiction in bail matters, yet it is preferable to approach them in a hierarchical manner. Also, the superior courts usually do not entertain the bail applications directly except on account of special circumstances.

GROUNDS / CONSIDERATIONS

Grant of regular bail is discretionary. However, courts are guided by various considerations such as –

• the nature and gravity of the accusations/offences,
• possibility of accused fleeing from justice,
• apprehension of tampering of evidence or influencing of witnesses, etc.

LIFE / DURATION

Regular bail, once granted, continues till the end of the trial.

CANCELLATION OF BAIL The police or the investigating agency can move the court (which granted anticipatory bail) for a direction under Section 439 (2) to arrest the accused, in the event of violation of any term, such as absconding, non-cooperation during investigation, evasion, intimidation or inducement to witnesses with a view to influence outcome of the investigation or trial, etc.