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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

28/08/24 08:40 AM IST

Supreme Court ruling on relaxing bail provision for first-time offenders

In News
  • A Supreme Court ruling said that relaxed bail provisions for first-time offenders under the new criminal law Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) will have a “retrospective effect”.
Law on Undertrail prisoners
  • Both the BNSS (Section 479) and the now-replaced Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, (Section 436A) contain provisions on the “Maximum period for which undertrial prisoner can be detained”.
  • Under both, if an investigation or trial is pending, an undertrial prisoner shall be released on bail if they have already undergone detention for up to half the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence under the law.
  • The sole exception is if they are alleged to have committed an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment.
  • The BNSS introduces a new provision that reduces the detention period for undertrials before they can be released if they are ‘first-time offenders’ — those who have never been convicted of any offence in the past.
  • It states that such a person “shall be released on bond by the Court, if he has undergone detention for the period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for such offence under that law”.
Supreme Court Judgement
  • Since 2013, the Supreme Court has been monitoring issues related to prison conditions in the case Re Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons.
  • It began as a PIL after former Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti sent a letter to the court, highlighting issues such as overcrowding in prisons, unnatural deaths of prisoners, and the inadequacy of trained prison staff.
  • The court then appointed Senior Advocate Gaurav Agrawal as amicus curiae (friend of the court) to assist the court by identifying important issues and providing updates on whether the court’s directions have been complied with.
  • According to the court’s order dated August 13, 2024, Agrawal submitted that Section 479 of the BNSS “needs to be implemented at the earliest and it will help in addressing over-crowding in prisons”.
Source- Indian Express

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