Time and again in the news, we hear about statutory bail. In a recent incident, JNU scholar Sharjeel Imam, who was arrested for the charges of sedition, has been granted statutory bail after he had spent almost four years in prison as an under trial for an allegedly inflammatory speech.
So what exactly is this statutory bail? This bail is granted on technical grounds under the statute, hence statutory bail. Under the Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, CRPC, an accused is granted bail if he has served half of the maximum period of jail prescribed for the offence.
The CRPC clearly mentions the maximum period for which an undertrial prisoner can be detained in each type of offence. For instance, for a charge involving a life sentence, 10 years is considered as half the sentence for the purpose of granting statutory bail. The provision for statutory bail was introduced in 2005 in response to the problem of rising number of under trials in prison. This is especially helpful for under trials in offences that carry shorter sentences.
National Crime Records Bureau data for 2002 shows that there were 63 ,502 under trials across the country charged with the offences that carry a sentence shorter than two years. In all bailable offences, courts must mandatorily grant the offence.
bail under Section 436 CRPC to an accused who is willing to furnish a bail bond. However, in non -violable offences, bail is granted at court’s discretion. To shield from lengthy periods of incarceration without trials, courts also grant default bail. Under Section 167 .2 of CRPC, police have 60 days to complete the investigation and file a final report before the court. For offences that prescribe death sentence or life imprisonment or a jail term of not less than 10 years, this period for investigation is 90 days.
In the designated period, if the police are unable to finish the investigation and file a chart sheet The default bail is granted, default bail is only for IPC crimes. Stringent special legislation like the UAPA have relaxed timelines for police to investigate.
