Personal liberty cannot be compromised at the altar of what the State may perceive as justice, the Supreme Court has said while granting bail to former Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) chairman Rakesh Kumar Paul in a case of alleged corruption.
A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur, in a majority ruling of 2:1, said Mr. Paul was entitled to ‘default bail’ and the trial judge should release him on such terms as may be reasonable.
In the majority verdict, concurred by Justices Lokur and Deepak Gupta, the court said that “in matters of personal liberty, we cannot and should not be too technical and must lean in favour of personal liberty”.
“The truth is that personal liberty cannot be compromised at the altar of what the state might perceive as justice for one might be perceived as injustice for another… We are therefore unable to agree with counsel for the State that the petitioner is not entitled to his liberty through what is commonly referred to as default bail or that the justice of the case should persuade us to decide otherwise,” Justice Lokur said in his verdict.
The apex court was hearing the plea filed by Mr. Paul after his bail pleas were rejected by the Gauhati High Court twice.
He was arrested in November last year after an FIR was lodged against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act and a charge sheet was filed this January.
The apex court dealt with the issue of whether an accused could be kept in custody for a maximum period of 60 days or for 90 days without a charge sheet being filed.
In his dissenting verdict, Justice P.C. Pant held that the allegations did not disclose merely an economic offence but it showed a transgression of the constitutional rights of the victims of the crime.
“The Chairman of the APSC has the responsibility on behalf of the State for enforcement of the fundamental rights of equality in matters of public employment enshrined under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India,” Justice Pant said.
“If the allegations are found to be true, then the offence cannot merely be considered as an economic offence, but a fraud on the Constitution itself by the persons appointed to enforce it,” he said while refusing to grant bail, even on merit.
While concurring with the verdict of Justice Lokur, Justice Gupta added that the probe agencies must investigate all the cases efficiently using latest scientific technology.