Apex court objects to conditions in granting bails
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has objected to imposing conditions while granting bail relief to an accused, stating that the law on grant of bail in criminal cases is by now clearly contoured and well-setled.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed noted this while seting aside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) order on a bail request of Saeed Zaman, one of the accused in a massive financial scam.
An IHC judge on May 20 granted him bail with a formidable rider to deposit with the court Rs5.16 million, the amount allegedly siphoned off by him.
He had also asked him to deposit a bond of Rs100,000 as surety. As the petitioner failed to arrange the amount, he moved the apex court seeking exemption from the cash deposit condition.
Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, while authoring a three-page order, noted that the bench was not able to persuade itself to uphold the imposition of a condition. The order said the law on grant of bail in criminal cases is by now clearly contoured and well-setled.
“The regime is an interlocutory arrangement to ensure physical presence of an accused so as to confront the indictment pending conclusion of the trial, either under judicial custody or with a surety to produce him before the court as and when required. In the non-bailable category of offences, grant of bail in crimes punishable with imprisonment of less than 10 years, presumably with charges on the lower side of gravity scale, the release of an accused, ater conclusion of investigation is a rule. However, even in appropriate cases, the court may still validly decline the concession.”
The order said in offences punishable with death or imprisonment of 10 years or above, the accused can not be released on bail unless he succeeds in making out a case calling for further probe.
The court noted that in the event of his release on bail, the court may require an accused to execute a bond either personally or through sureties amount whereof “shall be fixed with due regard to the circumstances of the case, and shall not be excessive.”