New Delhi: High courts and sessions courts should be slow in staying bail orders and such a decision should be taken in very rare cases, as the liberty granted to an accused cannot be casually interfered, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.
The Apex Court said an order granting bail can be stayed by a court only in exceptional cases, when a very strong prima facie case of the existence of the grounds for cancellation of bail is made out. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said when a person is arrested, the rights guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution get substantially curtailed.
“When the high court or sessions court stays such an order, it amounts to taking away the liberty granted under the order of bail. When an application for cancellation of bail is filed, the high court or sessions court should be very slow in granting the drastic interim relief of stay of the order granting bail,” the bench said.The top court said while issuing a notice on an application for cancellation of bail, the high court can, by an interim order, impose additional bail conditions on the accused, which will ensure that the accused does not flee.
“However, an order granting a stay to the operation of the order granting bail during the pendency of the application for cancellation of bail should be passed in very rare cases.
“The reason is that when an undertrial is ordered to be released on bail, his liberty is restored, which cannot be easily taken away for the asking. The undertrial is not a convict,” the bench said. The Apex Court said an ex-parte stay of an order granting bail, as a standard rule, should not be given.
“The power to grant an ex-parte interim stay of an order granting bail has to be exercised in very rare and exceptional cases, where the situation demands the passing of such an order.