Release on bail cannot be deferred once accused is found entitled to bail: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday emphasised that once an accused is found by a court to be entitled to bail, the release of such an accused on bail cannot be deferred [Jitendra Paswan v. State of Bihar]..A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih made the observation while dealing with an appeal against a High Court order by which an accused was allowed release on bail "but after six months."The top court had earlier granted interim bail to the accused man. On Monday (September 2), the Court confirmed and made this interim bail order absolute."Rights guaranteed to accused under Article 21 are affected if bail is deferred despite case for bail having been held to be made out," the Bench said, while partly allowing the appeal..Bail is rule and jail is exception even in PMLA cases: Supreme Court.By way of background, on April 19 this year, the Patna High Court granted bail to one Jitendra Paswan, who was accused in a murder case, with the condition that he would be released only after six months. The order passed by High Court Judge Justice Dr. Anshuman stated,"Let the petitioner Jitendra Paswan ... be released on bail, but after six month from today, on furnishing bail bonds of ₹30,000 with two sureties of the like amount each.".Aggrieved, the bail applicant moved the Supreme Court for relief in an appeal filed through Advocate Satya Mitra. When the appeal was taken up in July this year, the top court granted the bail applicant interim bail.At the time, it also criticised the trend of High Courts passing such conditional bail orders."This is extremely strange. Some courts are granting bail for 6 months or 1 year and this is new trend now. It is like that I am granting you bail but I will release you after 6 months. What is this?" the Supreme Court had remarked.