Bail: A Needful Aspect of Law Misused?

Introduction

In the modern day time, the term bail has become a very comprehensive meaning to which the understanding is created between the accused and the Government to provide for a space wherein there can be a consent which is to be made mutually for the release of the accused or convicts on certain grounds which are either in the form of cash, registration of property or may be the submission of any other commodity as on time, when the accused shall be presented before the judge or before the police whenever needed to be asked. The concept of bail has played an important role in the world of Jurisprudence as well, since it has stoked the controversy of whether to consider the idea of releasing of the accused or the convicts can result in the misuse of powers as well as for the areas which have been associated with the idea of maintaining security of the nation and the respect for the justice in the eyes of the society.

The introduction of the concept of bail for the first time happened when Plato tried to create an establishment for the release of Socrates by giving the ruler some property as well as some grounds that with which the ruler would be satisfied as well as provide for a safer market with which he could let him roam around freely as well.  The idea improved drastically over the period of time as the Britain judiciary system brought about a revolutionary change in the system of the judicial proceedings wherein  Magna Carta along with action of rights helped in establishing the concept of bail.

History

After the fall of the roman empire, the different tribes including the Robina and Sabatina had shifted to the western Europe where, they settled and fought battles to their own power capture and controlling. However, a few decided upon the idea as to how the settlements to take place, whether indulging into fights and wars which incurred huge costs and damage. However, over the period of time with the evolution of these tribes, they resorted to better ways with which they could resolve their issues as such and as a result found the trial system to be an interesting method to deal these issues with that have been of disputes as such. The concept of bail was not exactly determined here, however, with the initiation of trials, every person was allowed to taste the freedom as long as they were preparing for their defence. With the coming in of the Magna Carta, it was established that no person shall be convicted without being properly heard from the private party.

The British prisons were considered to be a part with which a lot of troubles and consequences had to be faced every day with the lack of hygiene along with the maintenance of the prison buildings which were adding extra costs but the lack of services established caused a lot of hindrance to the prisoners. The idea which was present at that point of time was of the question to take care of the prisoners and whether the pathetic conditions would be in violation of their fundamental rights. The judges in those days established circuit courts in which they will travel from city to city and gave out importance of creating an opportunity for their release till the conditions of the prison had improved.  The English in 1275 passed an act which brought about a huge change in the idea of the provision of bail which will bring about a change in the idea of the bail with the Westminister Statute. In India, there is no specific mention about the concept of bail as such defined under the Code of Criminal Procedure. However, there has been mentioning of the bailable and the non-bailable offences but no specifications of the bail.  Along with the idea of providing various grounds for the idea of bail under various sections in the CRPC.

Purpose of Bail

As said by the great jurist Sir Thomas More “Bail is a way for a defendant to be temporarily released from custody pending the outcome of his or her case. It essentially serves as a form of insurance for the court; by requiring that defendants secure bail bonds, a Maryland court can receive some measure of assurance that they will appear for their next court appearance.” The main purpose of the bail system was to not only take care of the facts of providing freedom to the accused in the case but also to provide for a way to prepare their defence. However, bail has not only been confined to post the arrest of the accused, but the bail can also be applied by the person who feels he or she shall be arrested in future place and can take help of the court for the anticipatory bail with which the person shall be protected from the police arrest and under the police custody as well.

This concept of bail has also got the power to not only associate with the correct idea to prevent any pre-meditated ideas to hinder upon one person’s belief and ideology as well as look at the purview in the variety of ideas creating the perception of prevention. However, as the idea of bail has been proposed to create an atmosphere to help out with the freedom, it has successfully been able to destroy the reputation of a person as he/she still is not removed from the charges, creates mental stress in the mind of the person as to how to survive the life and create better empowerment and systematic order.

Conclusion

The idea and concept of bail have been revolutionised over the period of time with the better definition. However, there can be no denial of the fact that the idea and vision of the people still have not been completely eradicated and needs to be dealt with care and understanding the legal aspect of the world with more care and respect. The bail laws have to amended as well as looked at with a different perspective.

This Article Written by Dibya Prakash Lahiri, Student of Vivekananda Institute of Professional studies.

Also Read – When Can A Bail Get Cancelled?

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