CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYA NAGAR, MITHAPUR, PATNA- 800001

LAW RELATING TO BAIL IN INDIA

A rough draft is submitted in partial fulfillment of the course in Criminal Law-II for the
requirement of degree B.A.L.L.B (Hons.) for the academic session 2022-23.

Submitted by:

Amisha Singh

Roll no.: 2310

Semester: 4th

Session: 2020-2025

Submitted to:

Ms. Preety Anand

Assistant Professor of Law

10th March 2022

 ABSTRACT

Art. 21 of the Constitution of India lays down that “No person shall be deprived of his life or
personal liberty except according to the procedure established by Law.” The Criminal
Procedure Code of 1973 gives a distinction between bailable and non-bailable offences, the
process of getting bail under the Indian legal system, the extent, jurisdiction, and powers of
the courts of law regarding granting of bail but does not essentially define the term “bail”.
The Apex court has substantially tied human rights, intrinsic to a democratic country, given
to us under the Constitution with the infamous principle- “Bail is a rule, jail is an
exception.” This project aims to do a holistic study on the concept of bail under the Indian
legal system, specifically the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973.

Keywords: bail, bond, anticipatory bail, granting of bail, powers of a court

INTRODUCTION

There are two main objectives of arresting and detaining an accused person, that are:

i. To ensure his appearance in the court of law during the trial

ii. To ascertain receiving of prescribed punishment if he is found guilty of
committing an offence.1

Hence it is fairly reasonable to not curb the personal liberty of the accused during the
pendency of proceedings if his presence can be ensured without arresting or detaining him
because that would be unfair and unjust.2

“Bail” has been defined in the Law Lexicon as security for the appearance of the accused
person on giving which he is released pending trial or investigation.3

“Bail” is also characterised as to “procure the release of a person from legal custody, by
undertaking that he shall appear at the time and place designated and submit himself to the
jurisdiction and judgment of the court”4

The Criminal Procedure Code, 19735 does not define the term “bail” but creates a distinction
between the nature of offences.

1
RV KELKAR, CRIMINAL PROCEDURE 287 (2021)
2
Id.
3
Govind Prasad v. State of West Bengal, 1975 Cri LJ 1249
4
BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 177 (2021)
5
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, No. 2, Acts of Parliament, 1974 (India).

2
The First Schedule of the Act6 distinguishes offences as:

i. bailable7
ii. non-bailable8

Based on this classification, the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 delves into questions like
whether an accused person is eligible for bail in case of an offence or not, which court of law
has the jurisdiction to grant and cancel bails, and how the concept of a bond works.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERIZATION

1. INTRODUCTION
2. PROVISIONS FOR BAILABLE AND NON-BAILABLE OFFENCES
3. ANTICIPATORY BAIL
4. POWERS OF COURT REGARDING GRANTING OF BAIL
5. PROVISIONS REGARDING BOND
6. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

6
Id.
7
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, § 2(a) No. 2, Acts of Parliament, 1974 (India).
8
Id.