Small loan lending apps: Chinese national gets bail, court suggests blocking his bank account

As per details, Chenghua, through his counsel Harish Bhatti moved a plea for bail on Monday, which was opposed by the UT counsel who stated that the accused was a flight risk.

Justice Chitkara said, “The accused found system and human vulnerabilities and, with the help of his Indian agents, took advantage of significant loopholes. It is for the government to take appropriate measures empathising the people’s suffering and magnitude of this problem that the people not only of India but worldwide are facing and the global tarnishing of India’s image by these cyber thugs. However, keeping the people in jail for an indefinite period is not a panacea and the court has to give regard to an upper limit for pre-trial custody.”

The HC added that the remedy lies that whenever a judge or an officer believes that the accused might be a flight risk or has a history of fleeing from justice, then in such cases, appropriate conditions can be inserted that all expenditure subsequently incurred to trace him, is recovered from such person, and all the state shall have a lien over their assets to make good the loss.

Commenting on the sureties, the court said that “the menace of securing sureties by payment is well known within the legal fraternity. Some unscrupulous elements have established a flourishing business by standing as surety, and they circumvent the steps taken and all the measures formulated to end the menace of stock sureties by taking advantage of the vulnerabilities in the system. There is no reliable data to establish the role of sureties in bringing fugitives to justice, and the ground reality is that the sureties are happier to be compensated by the accused for their financial losses caused according to an action under section 446 CrPC.”

Suggesting ways to improve the attendance of accused, the court said, “A multitude of financial instruments, blocking of requisite amount in the bank account connected to the individual, fixed deposits, payment through UPI interface, etc., can also ensure ease and better compliance. It will likely improve the possibility of the accused’s attendance because they would know their money is safe and accruing interest and the failure to appear shall lead to the immediate forfeiture of the money. It is further likely to motivate them to refrain from defaulting. In contrast, the risk of losing money handed over by cash to stock sureties is enormous. There needs to be more assurance or likelihood of the refund of money taken by a stock surety.”