Once police arrest accused, judges have to be available to hear bail pleas; non-availability of judge invades liberty: Allahabad High Court

Doors of the courts must always be open no matter what the circumstance, the Allahabad High Court observed, stating that non-availability of judge at District court invades citizens' liberty (Faizan Allahbadi v. State of UP)..Once the Police are at their job of arresting accused persons, judges have to be available to hear their bail pleas, Single-judge Justice JJ Munir said. "Once the police are about their job of arresting those whom they say have committed crime, there has to be a Judge available to hear bail pleas at the headquarters, where the arrest is made. The non-availability of a Judge at the Headquarters seriously invades a citizen's liberty, where virtually there is a remand Magistrate to send a person arrested to jail, but no Judge, at least in the Sessions, to consider his bail plea." the Court stated in its order. The Court was prompted to make these observations after it was told that bail application of an accused was not being listed since courts were not functioning due to lockdown. This had forced the accused to knock at the doors of the Allahabad High Court. "This Court must remark, however, adverse the circumstances, the doors of justice ought not to become totally inaccessible. It not only burdens this Court with avoidable work, but also puts a citizen, already suffering hardships to the rigour and expense of approaching the High Court in the first instance to secure his liberty. This Court cannot appreciate the Judgeship of Aligarh for shutting its doors to all kinds of applications/ causes, that may genuinely require attention during the Covid-19 pandemic," the Court said. .The counsel for the accused informed the Court that the bail application was listed before the lower court on May 19 and on said date, all the District Courts were either locked down or virtually inaccessible because of the widespread restrictions on movement of persons. It was also informed that the office of the District Court at Aligarh was not accepting any applications which had compelled the applicant to file his bail application before Allahabad High Court..The High Court took a dim view of the situation in Aligarh and said that non-availability of a judge deprives citizens of their liberty. .Advocate General, appearing for the State government informed the Court that the applicant has a criminal history and out of five criminal cases, only one has been disclosed in the affidavit. The Court the proceeded to give one week to the applicant-accused to file a supplementary affidavit in the matter..The case will heard again on July 9.[Read order]