The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Allahabad high court to withdraw judicial work from a sessions judge and send him to the judicial academy to upgrade his skill. The action was a result of trial courts continuing to show reluctance to grant bail to accused in cases where custody was not needed despite the Supreme Court’s various rulings to be liberal in their approach and not pass detention order in a routine and mechanical way.

Despite the apex court’s clear warning on March 21 that in case of any non-compliance of its order, judicial work of the magistrate would be withdrawn and she/he would be sent to judicial academy for training, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Ahsanuddin Amanullah was told that courts were not following it.
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae, brought two orders passed in April to the court’s notice in which bail was rejected.

In one case of matrimonial dispute, a sessions judge in Lucknow rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a man and his mother, father and brother despite the fact that they were not arrested during the probe. In another case, an accused suffering from cancer was denied bail by a CBI court in Ghaziabad.

Expressing disappointment, the bench said, “The judgment given by this court is the law of the land and it has to be followed. There does not arise any question of not following it. The situation is alarming in Uttar Pradesh. It is not being followed in many cases despite the verdict being delivered 10 months back.”

“Even after our last order on March 21, an order was passed by a Lucknow court in complete breach of our order… We bring this order to the notice of the Allahabad high court… The HC needed to take action and do the needful for upgradation of his skill in judicial academy,” the bench added.

It had also asked courts to protect the liberty of people and be liberal in granting bail. It held that an accused who was not arrested during probe and cooperated in the investigation should not be taken into custody on filing of chargesheet.

The Supreme Court directed that training be imparted to prosecutors so that they do not oppose bail plea of an accused in violation of its order. It directed governments and prosecuting agencies, including the CBI, to make their prosecutors aware of the verdict so that they can take the right stand.