Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has directed all the courts of the state to take up the issue of criminal antecedent(s) (criminal history) of accused persons while deciding their bail applications and also give a complete detail of the criminal antecedent, if any, of the applicant accused before them or record the fact that there are no criminal antecedent(s) of the said person if there is none.
The court took a serious note when an accused applicant, Udai Pratap alias Dau, of Firozabad claimed in his bail application filed before the high court that he has no criminal history but the state counsel, on the basis of information received from the police authorities, disclosed that the applicant is involved in seven other criminal cases.
Rejecting the bail application of Udai Pratap alias Dau, who is an accused of kidnapping and murder, Justice Samit Gopal observed, “The order rejecting bail by the courts below is silent about the criminal antecedents of the applicant/accused but on the basis of instructions of additional government advocate (AGA) of this court or on the basis of instruction of counsels for the first informant (who has lodged FIR), it transpires that the applicant/accused has previous criminal history.”
“When the counsels, appearing for applicants, are countered with the same, it becomes embarrassing for them and is also an impediment in deciding the bail application due to the non-disclosure of the criminal history of the accused.”