Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, on Sunday stressed the importance of trial judges using robust common sense when handling bail petitions, particularly in significant criminal cases. Addressing a gathering at the 11th Annual Conference of the Berkeley Centre on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination, he pointed out the reluctance among trial judges to grant bail due to suspicion, urging for a more reasoned scrutiny of cases.
Justice Chandrachud observed that this cautious approach leads to a cascading effect where individuals deserving of bail at the trial court level end up appealing to higher courts, thus adding to the delays and compounding the challenges faced by those wrongly arrested. “People who should be getting bail in the trial courts are not getting it there, resulting in them having to invariably move to the high courts,” he remarked.
The discussion was ignited by a question regarding the tendency of public authorities to detain activists, academics, journalists, and opposition politicians in a politically motivated manner, and to seek forgiveness later, relying on the slow grind of the justice system. Justice Chandrachud emphasized that this distrust in the lower levels of the judicial system undermines the entire hierarchy of courts, from the trial courts to the Supreme Court.
“I think it’s important that we learn to trust people who may be in a hierarchical legal system, like much below, which are the trial courts. We have to encourage trial courts to be more receptive to the need for accommodating concerns of people who are seeking liberty,” he added.
Justice Chandrachud also noted the inherent problem in how bail relief is perceived by higher judicial authorities: “Unfortunately, the problem today is this: we look at any grant of relief by trial judges with a degree of suspicion. That means that the trial judges increasingly are playing it safe, not granting bail on important issues of serious crimes,” he explained.
The Chief Justice’s call for a judicious application of common sense is part of a broader appeal to ensure justice is not only done but seen to be done fairly and effectively. “You (judges) have to have a sense of robust common sense. Now, unless we, therefore, separate the grains from the chaff in criminal jurisprudence, it’s very unlikely that we will have just solutions and to allow for decision makers to separate the grain from the chaff, it’s important that we also place a great deal of trust,” he stressed.
Concluding his remarks, Chief Justice Chandrachud underscored the importance of ensuring that courts at every level function effectively without the fear that their decisions might jeopardize their careers.
