Relief for arrestees as Allahabad High Court amends 10-day bail rule

In a significant development, the Allahabad High Court has amended a rule whereby bail could not be granted before the lapse of ten days from filing an application for the same..As per Rule 18(3)(a) of the Allahabad High Court Rules,.“(3) Save in exceptional circumstances:.(a) No order granting bail shall be made on an application unless notice thereof has been given to the Government Advocate and not less than ten days have elapsed between the giving of such notice and the hearing of such application.”.The High Court has now issued a notification amending the said Rule, allowing an order granting bail to be made two days after notice of the bail application..The amendment is a culmination of the efforts of advocate Syed Mohammad Haider Rizvi, who first brought the issue to the attention of the High Court through a representation made in 2016. Rizvi appealed to the Chief Justice of the High Court to amend Rule 18(3)(a), as it was unconstitutional and illegal per se and interfered with the fundamental rights of scores of innocent individuals..Rizvi’s efforts were taken notice of on December 4, 2017, when Joint Registrar (Judicial) of the Allahabad High Court Nalin Kant Tyagi informed him that the issue was under the consideration of the High Court. However, no action was taken for a total of eighteen months since Rizvi’s first representation..This prompted Rizvi to approach the Supreme Court in July this year. The Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud disposed of the petition, directing the High Court to consider the representation and take a decision within six weeks. Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared for the petitioner in the Supreme Court..As per Rizvi’s final representation made to the High Court,.“The said provision, which was inserted in the Allahabad High Court Rules sometime in the year 1980, at a time when the unpartitioned State of Uttar Pradesh was having a huge geographical area with no modern means of communications, and in the peculiarity of things as they stood in the said times, no longer exist now.”.He also pointed out that with the present technological advancements, instructions from even the most remote police stations could reach the government advocate with a click of a mouse, thus enabling detenues to get relief in the form of bail expeditiously..Rizvi also referred to a number of Supreme Court decisions that safeguard the rights of detenues on arrest. Further, he pointed out that the impugned Rule was inconsistent with Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which does not specify the period of notice that is to be given to the Public Prosecutor when an application for bail is made..Moreover, Rizvi shed light on the Rules of different high courts across the country, none of which required a ten-day period for grant of bail..The High Court finally passed a notification amending the provision on September 19. The amended provision now reads,.“(3) Save in exceptional circumstances:.(a) No order granting bail shall be made on an application unless notice thereof has been given to the Government Advocate and not less than two days have elapsed between the giving of such notice and the hearing of such application.”.As per Rizvi,.“This is a major respite to thousands of innocent and speechless detenues who bore the brunt of this inherently illegal rule and languished in jail at least for 10 days without their matters being placed before the court for being heard.”.Read the notification for amendment: