Power to Grant Bail cannot be deployed as a Mechanism to Impose Sentence: Punjab & Haryana Govt grants Bail to GST Accused after 18 Months [Read Order]

While granting bail to an accused charged with offences under the Central GST Act, 2017, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the power to grant bail is not to be deployed as a mechanism for imposing sentence even before a guilt is yet to be proved and established.

A case has been registered against the petitioners, one Mr. Sunil Kumar and Vakil Chand, for alleged use of fake bills. The petitioners contended that they do not have any other criminal case registered against them and have already undergone more than 1½ years of actual custody. Besides, the investigation in the case is already complete and the trial has commenced and out of 17 witnesses so cited by the prosecuting agency only 02 witnesses have been examined so far, they argued.

After considering the arguments from both sides, Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj observed that “the present case being a Magisterial trial wherein the petitioners have already undergone substantive sentence of 1½ years since their arrest in the month of December 2020 and that only 02 witnesses have been examined so far coupled with the fact that the petitioners do not suffer from any criminal antecedents, I deem it appropriate to enlarge the petitioners on bail. No apprehension has been expressed by the State about the petitioners absconding from trial or tampering with the prosecution evidence.”

“There is no compelling circumstance as would call for continued custodial detention of an accused in a Magisterial trial when they have already undergone 1½ years of actual sentence and the trial is still at the nascent stage and is likely to take long to conclude. Magnitude of a crime and it social impact are even though essential aspects to be kept in mind while constituting a bail petition, however, the same can not remain the sole ground for prolonging detention for indefinite period of time. Court needs to strike a fine balance while considering an application of bail since the adopted criminal jurisprudence in the country hinges on presumption of innocence,” the Court said.

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