On the ground, India suffers attitudinal deficits and issues of proper law enforcement. We need to rewrite our laws wherever they are contrary to modern bail jurisprudence. Rather than a new law on bail, the judiciary at the grassroots level needs to develop compassion for the poor and the indigent and an understanding of their plight. It should assert that the detention of an individual is not a matter of routine. Ideally, the trial courts should be able to fix liability on the state for detaining the accused under draconian laws by treating them as victims of such laws. The courts in India should also oversee and ensure the proper implementation of the benevolent provisions already existing in the CrPC. If we can do this course correction, a separate Bail Act may not even be necessary. In the absence of such introspection, even a new Bail Act might not fully help us.
Kaleesearam Raj, ‘Just to remind, bail is the rule of democracy’, New Indian Express
