Supreme Court deprecates practice of detailed elaboration of evidence in bail orders

The Supreme Court recently reiterated that bail orders should not be lengthy and should be disposed of expeditiously without detailed examination/ elaboration of evidence [Kadar Nazir Inamdar vs State of Maharashtra]..In an order passed on May 10, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol granted bail to one one Kadar Inamdar, accused in the murder of Shiv Sena leader Rahul Shetty.The Court referred to its order from last month wherein it had deprecated the practice of detailed elaboration of evidence in bail orders and had urged all courts in the country to ensure that bail orders are not lengthy and are pronounced on time."Recently, this Court, vide order dated April 27, 2023 had deprecated the practice of detailed elaboration of evidence in the orders granting/rejecting bail/anticipatory bail. This Court also depreciated the practice of long delay between reserving the matter for order and pronouncing the order. We had observed that in the matters pertaining to liberty of citizens, the Courts are expected to decide the maters expeditiously," the Court said.The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Inamdar challenging a September 29 Bombay High Court order rejecting his bail plea.The Supreme Court noted that the Bombay High Court order refusing bail to Inamdar ran into 16 pages and was delivered almost three months after it was reserved.The Court also noted that the State government had not filed an appeal against grant of bail by the Bombay High Court to another accused in the same case. "In the present case the order is pronounced almost three months after it was reserved ... Upon perusal of the charge-sheet as well as the impugned order it cannot be said that the role of the petitioner herein stands on a higher pedestal than that of co-accused ... the petitioner has been incarcerated for about two and a half years, the charges are yet to be framed," the top court observed.The Court, therefore, directed that Indamdar be released on bail subject to the terms set by the trial court..Advocates Sana Raees Khan, Sriram Parakkat, Vishnu Shankar, Aditya Santhosh and Nachiketa Vajpayee appeared for the petitioner. Advocates Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Bharat Bagla and Sourav Singh represented the respondents.The top court had in December observed that bail applications should not be heard by courts for more than ten minutes. Lengthy hearings lasting for days in bail matters are a waste of the court's time, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka had said.[Read Order]