State cannot claim ‘serious charges’ to oppose bail, says Supreme Court

State cannot claim ‘serious charges’ to oppose bail, says Supreme Court

Subject: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context:

A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan ordered Sheikh Javed Iqbal, a man awaiting trial under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for nine years, to be released on bail, in yet another back-to-back decision which upheld the right of an individual’s personal liberty over the state’s claim that bail should not be made easy when serious crimes were involved.

More about News:

• Bail cannot be denied only on the ground that the charges are very serious though there is no end in sight for the trial to conclude.
• The man was arrested near the Indo-Nepal border in February 2015 allegedly with fake Indian currency notes amounting to over ₹23 lakh. He has been behind bars since then. The man appealed to the Supreme Court after the Allahabad High Court denied him bail.
• Article 21 of the Constitution applies irrespective of the nature of the crime.
• While imposing bail conditions, the constitutional rights of an accused ordered to be released on bail can be curtailed only to the minimum extent required.

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act:

• UAPA was passed in 1967.
• It aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
  Unlawful activityrefers to any action taken by an individual or association intended to disrupt the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.
• The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawfulthen it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
• It has death penalty and life imprisonmentas highest punishments.
• Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationalscan be charged. It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
• Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.
• The 2004 amendment, added “terrorist act” to the list of offences to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned.
  
• Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory.
• Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to designate individuals as terroristson certain grounds provided in the Act.
  The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
• The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.

Article 21:

• “Protection of Life and Personal Liberty: No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.”
• This fundamental right is available to every person, citizens and foreigners
• Article 21 provides two rights:
  • Right to life
  • Right to personal liberty
• The Supreme Court of India has described this right as the ‘heart of fundamental rights’.