Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: July 14, 2022 at 19:28 IST
In the absence of any specific provisions, the Supreme Court stated that Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure would apply to the Special Acts as well.
The Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh further stated that this provision requires mandatory compliance and that a bail application is not even necessary in cases of such, especially where the reasons for the delay are not the accused’s fault.
The Bench noted that Act 25 of 2005 inserted Section 436A to the Code. In accordance with this clause, a person who has been detained for a period extending to half the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence must be released by the court on his or her personal bond, with or without sureties.
The court noted the following that, “To be clear, in the absence of any other provision, Section 436A of the Code would likewise apply to the Special Acts. In this situation, for instance, the rigour provideded in Section 37 of the NDPS Act would not be an issue because we are dealing with an individual’s liberty. We do feel that more the rigor, the quicker the adjudication ought to be.”
“After all, there wouldn’t be many witnesses in these type of cases, and prolonging the trial might not be justified. Perhaps compliance to this Court’s directions to expedite the procedure as well as stricter compliance to Section 309 of the Code.“