The Supreme Court has ruled that the condition of furnishing local sureties in bail orders can be waived if it results in delays that render the bail order ineffective. The decision came as a relief to Girish Gandhi, a petitioner who had been granted bail in 13 cases but remained in custody due to his inability to provide local sureties in multiple states.
A bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Vishwanathan emphasized that courts should avoid imposing excessive and onerous conditions that make it difficult for the accused to fulfill bail requirements. The Court highlighted that the condition of providing local surety in this case, where the bail order pertained to Jaipur, Rajasthan, while the accused hailed from Haryana, had become an “arduous task” and “virtually rendered ineffective the order for bail.”
The Court referenced the landmark ruling in Satender Kumar Antil vs. Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr. (2022), wherein it was held that imposing bail conditions that are impossible to comply with defeats the purpose of granting bail. The bench also referred to In Re Policy Strategy for Grant of Bail (2023), where the Supreme Court had endorsed the idea of not imposing the condition of local surety to prevent delays in the release of the accused.
In delivering the judgment, the Court invoked the words of Justice Krishna Iyer from Moti Ram and Ors. vs. State of Madhya Pradesh (1978), which criticized the practice of demanding sureties from the same district as the court. Justice Iyer had argued that such practices disrupt the unity of India and violate the principles of equality before the law as protected by Article 14 of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Girish Gandhi v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. underscores the importance of ensuring that bail conditions do not create undue barriers to the release of the accused. By relieving the petitioner from the requirement to furnish a local surety, the Court reinforced the principle that bail conditions should not be so stringent as to negate the very purpose of granting bail.
Case Reference
- Case Title: Girish Gandhi v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors.
- Case No.: WP (Crl) No. 149 of 2024
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