Inconsistent and Unclear: The Supreme Court of India on Bail

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the law in respect of bail and pre-trial detention in India, testing judicial precedent on the anvil of the presumption of innocence with specific reference to two contrasting decisions of the Supreme Court, earlier in Pappu Yadav v. Central Bureau of Investigation and more recently in the 2G case in Sanjay Chandra v. Central Bureau of Investigation. It focuses only on conditions of bail set forth in the Code of Criminal Procedure and does not look at special legislation. The paper concludes by suggesting measures for legislative and judicial reform to harmonise law relating to bail across India.

Keywords: Bail, Supreme Court, India, Criminal Procedure, pretrial detention, presumption of innocence

JEL Classification: K14, K40, K41