How To End The Jail Mania

A Bail Act may not be a be-all and end-all solution, but it may be a good starting point

- Neha Singhal and Naveed Mehmood Ahmad

‘Process is punishment’ – an expression we’ve become all too familiar with, was most recently put to use by the Chief Justice of India to describe the existing crisis in the criminal justice system.

The Supreme Court also passed a judgment responding to this very sentiment. It issued a series of guidelines to grapple with the problem of unwarranted arrests, incarceration of undertrials and infringement of personal liberty. It asked investigative agencies to follow the procedure for arrest as laid down under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which unfortunately required reiteration. It also recommended the enactment of a special law to streamline the process of granting bail, a “Bail Act”.

Suspicion of processes

The court’s judgment repeatedly stressed on three fundamental presuppositions of a criminal trial – presumption of innocence; jail being an exception; and the sanctity of personal liberty. It called arrest a “draconian measure” that must be used “sparingly”. In essence, it stated that arbitrary arrests and denial of bail are the hallmark of a police state.