BAIL IS THE RULE AND JAIL IS AN EXCEPTION

BAIL IS THE RULE AND JAIL IS AN EXCEPTION

20th FEBRUARY 2021

The Apex Court bench headed by Justice SK Kaul granted regular bail to an accused involved in a GST evasion case. The Court has decried the demand for “Keeping everybody in jail’’, stating that everybody wants everybody in jail. Criminal jurisprudence in this country needs to be changed. 

The court noted earlier, in this case, Additional Solicitor General opposed the bail of the accused stating that there was siphoning of 21 crore which belonged to the people of India. The accused was not only opposed to bail but was also kept on Police remand for a maximum of 15 days, the police still wanted him to be in jail. The bench told ASG , why should anybody be kept in jail in the case of GST evasion if most of the evidence would be documentary - Bail is the Rule and Jail is an exception, we must correct our jurisprudence again. 

Author- Papiha Ghoshal