Supreme Court: Mention details of previous pleas, orders in all bail petitions

The bench also reiterated its directions in an earlier case and said “that all bail applications filed by the different accused in the same FIR should be listed before the same judge except in cases where the judge has superannuated or has been transferred or otherwise incapacitated to hear the matter”.

The bench said “the system needs to be followed meticulously to avoid any discrepancies in the orders”. Mentioning details of the previous application will help the courts to better appreciate the arguments in that light, the SC said.

The SC further directed that “the registry of the court should also annex a report generated from the system about decided or pending bail applications in the crime case in question” and that this should be followed even in the case of private complaints.

The bench also said that “it should be the duty of the Investigating Officer/any officer assisting the state counsel in court to apprise him of the orders, if any, passed by the court with reference to different bail applications or other proceedings in the same crime case. And the counsel appearing for the parties have to conduct themselves truly like officers of the court”. The court issued the directions after it noted some red flags in a bail application filed by one of the two accused before the Orissa High Court in a case registered under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.