The Jharkhand High Court has set
aside a lower court order granting conditional bail to a person on payment of fine, saying a fine is a punitive measure that is imposed only when the guilt of an accused is proved and he is convicted of the charges framed against him.
The bench of Justice Ananda Sen said that the lower courts order that the petitioner should pay a fine of Rs 60,000 as a condition for securing bail was not in accordance with law and liable to be set aside.
The judge said, "Unless the guilt is proved and accused is convicted no punishment can be imposed, and fine, which is in fact sentence, cannot be awarded".
The observation was made by Justice Sen while hearing a petition against the order, passed by the Judicial Commissioner, Ranchi, in which the petitioner was asked to deposit the fine in favour of the Excise department as a condition for grant of bail.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Rahul Pandey had prayed to set aside part of the January 14 2020 order, pertaining to imposition of fine, for grant of bail in a 2019 case.
The petitioner was accused of storing 106.2 litres of country-made and foreign liquor in his shop during raids by the department and was taken into custody.
The petitioner had moved for regular bail before the Judicial Commissioner, Ranchi, which granted the bail with a condition that he should deposit the sum as fine in favour of the Excise department through e-challan.
Aggrieved by the conditional bail, the petitioner approached the High Court, praying to set aside the condition.
The petitioner submitted that the condition, which has been imposed, "is erroneous and fine cannot be imposed as a condition of bail...such conditions 'dehors' the provisions of law" and cited various sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Additional Public Prosecutor, Suraj Verma, submitted in detail that the court is well within its jurisdiction to impose any condition in lieu of grant of bail, contending that the court has the power to impose any condition for grant of bail and has not used its discretionary power in an arbitrary manner.
Setting aside the conditional bail, Justice Sen in his order on Monday, said that a fine is a punitive measure that is imposed only when the guilt of the accused is proved and he is convicted of the charges framed against him.
The judge also referred to the rulings of the Supreme Court.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
