In a very recent judgement from April, 2022, the Supreme Court has said it “cannot appreciate” the approach of the Allahabad High Court in dismissing a man’s bail application on the ground that the appeal itself should be heard, as this would only add to the large number of appeals already pending.
The top court, which set aside the high court order and granted bail to the appellant, observed that as on date the man has undergone over 14 years of actual sentence while the appeal is pending for seven years before the high court.

The man had filed the application before the high court seeking bail during the pendency of appeal filed against a trial court judgement of October 2013 which had convicted and sentenced him in a criminal case.
The top court noted that the bail application of the appellant was rejected by the high court in December 2019 stating that the paper books should be prepared within two weeks and case be listed immediately thereafter for hearing.

The bench was informed that thereafter three times, the appellant had moved application for listing and it was listed in October last year but was not taken up.

“Thus, orders which instead of examining bail merely rejected on the ground that the appeal itself should be heard appears to serve no purpose because of the large number of appeals pending in the Allahabad High Court,” the bench said.

“The approach to bail matters is causing a further strain on the court. This is not the only case of this kind which we have seen,” it said.
The bench said even if the date of the high court’s order is taken into account, the appellant would have spent about 12 years in custody by then and if the appeal is pending, it see no reason why bail should not be granted in this kind of a single incident case.

“We really cannot appreciate the approach of the high court in rejecting the bail application with a simple sentence that the appeal should be heard while hearing of the appeal looks almost an impossibility,” it said.

“We expect the state to examine this issue more so in the context of policies as prevalent in other states and the huge backlog of the criminal cases in the state of Uttar Pradesh both at the trial and high court stage as also the fact that the appeals are not taken up for hearing for years together,” the apex court said.

It said if a “practical approach” is adopted by the state to see at least the remission is examined after 14 years of the actual sentence, some of these appellants may be satisfied with that instead of prosecuting the appeal.

“We have thus no hesitation in setting aside the impugned order and opining that this is a incorrect approach being adopted and we grant bail to the appellant on terms and conditions to the satisfaction of the trial court,” the bench said.