The Supreme Court has said that it is not appropriate to keep someone in jail for a long time by imposing strict conditions for granting bail. The Supreme Court said that there is a need to resolve the cases of PMLA, UAPA and NDPS Act as soon as possible. It is not right to keep the accused in jail by delaying the hearing and imposing strict rules in granting bail.
Hearing the bail plea of ​​former Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George said that the executive should also pay attention to the laws in which the onus is on the accused to prove his innocence. The court said that this case pertains to the period 2022-2016 when Senthil Balaji used to be the Transport Minister. He has been in jail for 15 months and at present there does not seem to be any solution to this case in the near future. In such a situation, he is being granted bail. The court said that there are 2 thousand accused and 500 witnesses in this case. In such a situation, the hearing and decision of the case is likely to take more time.
The court said that looking at the evidence so far, there is no evidence against Senthil Balaji to show that Rs 1.34 crore was deposited in his bank account. It cannot also be said that no case is made out against the petitioner. At the same time, ED cannot be allowed to use the strict provision of bail under Section 45 (1) (II) because the accused have been in custody for a long time.
The bench said that Balaji will have to appear before the ED every Monday and Friday. He will also have to be present in the court during the hearing in the money laundering case. The Supreme Court said, allegations were leveled against Balaji while he was a minister. Whereas in the justice system, bail is a rule and jail is an exception. In such a situation, strict rules of bail cannot be used as a weapon to keep someone in jail.