Bail rules: Panel to recommend ways so that poor do not suffer

New Delhi: With government favouring uniform rules to grant bail, Law Commission chairman Justice B S Chauhan has said guidelines for judges on the issue are "not required" though it would recommend ways to ensure that the poor do not suffer.

At the same time, Justice Chauhan said he is not rejecting the idea of recommending guidelines for judges on grant of bail and the Commission will examine it.

"My experience as a lawyer and a judge had been that it is the discretion of the court depending upon the facts of a case... Court makes up its mind in half-a-second on whether bail should be granted or not... Whether it is a fit case for bail or not," the newly-appointed Chairman of the 21st Law Commission told PTI.

He said the "only difficulty" is poor people do not get bail for want of legal assistance or money.

"Sometime they cannot even bring the surety. Even if the court grants the bail, they cannot go out. We can suggest something only on these lines, but there can't be any guidelines for the judge," he said, responding to a reference made by the Law Ministry to the panel to examine the possibility of coming out with a separate Bail Act.

However, he added, "Not refusing guidelines for judges. We will study, but I don't think it is required."

He said some suggestion may be made on "how to reduce the surety amount, in what condition it can be reduced. There must be some guarantee of his presence in the court in the future, otherwise people will get bail and disappear. That will also create a problem. So to make bail easy is not a solution to the problem."

He said while a poor man must get bail, there should be means to ensure that his presence in court on a future date is "secured."

The panel would study laws of other countries before coming up with recommendations.