Noting an ‘alarming and sinister’ increase in instances where convicts go underground after getting bail and hold the ‘criminal justice delivery system to ransom’, the Supreme Court has said proceedings should be initiated against persons who give surety in such cases.
The apex court said that courts should not be a ‘mute spectator’ to the attempts by the convicts to circumvent and escape undergoing the sentences awarded to them by disappearing after getting bail and action must be taken in such cases, including dismissal of the appeal.
‘It seems to us that it is necessary for the Appellate Court which is confronted with the absence of the convict as well as his counsel, to immediately proceed against the persons who stood surety at the time when the convict was granted bail, as this may lead to his discovery and production in court.
The apex court said that courts should not be a ‘mute spectator’ to the attempts by the convicts to circumvent and escape undergoing the sentences awarded to them by disappearing after getting bail and action must be taken in such cases, including dismissal of the appeal.
‘It seems to us that it is necessary for the Appellate Court which is confronted with the absence of the convict as well as his counsel, to immediately proceed against the persons who stood surety at the time when the convict was granted bail, as this may lead to his discovery and production in court.