On Monday, the Supreme Court questioned the Patna High Court while also hearing a challenge given to a decision of the High Court which was meant for granting bail to the accused. Putting away the decision made and scrapping the bail granted, a Division Bench of Sanjiv Khanna and M.R. Shah noted that the High Court did not record any valid reasons for the grant of bail and that they were not considering the extreme gravity, the nature and the seriousness of the offences that were allegedly placed against the accused.
In the current matter, the Patna High Court had also released the respondent accused on bail in relation to alleged charges under Sections 147, 148, 149, 341, 323, 324, 427, 504, 506, 307, and 302 IPC and Section 27 of the Arms Act.
In the case that was referred by the Supreme Court, the following was laid down as the relevant considerations for the grant of bail 1. The nature of seriousness of the offence, 2. character of the evidence and circumstances which are abnormal with respect to the accused, 3. the likelihood of the accused fleeing or running away from justice, 4. the impact that his/her release may make on the prosecution witnesses, and its overall impact on the society, 5. The likelihood of his tampering.
