Imposing impossible conditions make bails an empty formality, says Madras High Court

CHENNAI: Imposing impossible conditions on prisoners while granting bail would make it an empty formality, said the Madras High Court, adding that it was better to deny bail rather than forcing conditions that are stringent to the point of being unfeasible for the prisoners to meet.

While hearing the suo motu proceeding that was initiated based on a DT Next report, which revealed how several hundred prisoners were languishing in jail despite being granted bail, a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and M Jothiraman directed the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments to take action to ensure that all prisoners who have obtained bail were released.

Making prisoners languish in jail even after being granted bail was a violation of his/her Constitutional rights, the court added.

When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, additional public prosecutor R Muniyapparaj submitted a status report stating that the jails across Tamil Nadu had 104 prisoners who still remained behind bars despite obtaining bail because they were unable to execute the bond conditions.

State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) member-secretary K Sudha submitted that actions have been initiated through District Legal Services Authorities to ensure that the prisoners were able to avail legal aid and other assistance to get released from jail.

Appearing for SLSA, advocate CSS Pillai submitted that the prisoners remained behind bars despite being granted bail because the imposed bail conditions were very stringent and were impossible for the prisoners to execute.

The bench intervened at this juncture and observed in such cases, the legal services authority should file a petition before the court to modify the bail conditions so as to assist the prisoners in getting released from jail.

Justice Subramaniam observed that government servant surety was imposed as bail condition in some cases. "Which government servant will come forward for an accused to get bail," the judge wondered. Such conditions were also paving the way for some government servants to milk cash out of the situation, as they are giving surety, the judge added.

Public Prosecutor of Puducherry, KS Mohandass, submitted that 14 prisoners were in jails across the union territory and actions have been taken to release them.

After all the submissions, the bench directed both the governments and also the SLSA to ensure that all the prisoners who have got bail are released from incarceration and posted the matter after four weeks for further proceedings.