Bail is the rule and jail is the exception; courts must grant bail unless compelling reasons exist to deny it.

ORDER :

This Bail Application is filed under Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023, for regular bail.

2. Petitioner is the 1^st accused in Crime No.396/2025 of Kattappana Police Station. The offences alleged are under Sections 406 and 420 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code , 1860.

3. The prosecution case is that the petitioner/1^st accused, along with the 2^nd accused, committed criminal breach of trust and cheating by obtaining an amount of Rs.2,80,00,000/- from the defacto complainant, offering job at New Zealand, and thereafter did not arrange the job as agreed, or return the amount collected from him. It is also alleged that the accused provided fake visa and documents to the defacto complainant and four others. Thus the petitioner is alleged to have committed the aforesaid offence.

4. The petitioner was arrested on 06.03.2025 and remanded to judicial custody. In the present petition, the petitioner would contend that he is totally innocent, and that he has been falsely implicated in this case.

5. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor representing the State of Kerala.

6. The bail application is strongly opposed by the learned Public Prosecutor. It is submitted by the learned Public Prosecutor that, considering the huge amount involved in the transaction, the release of the petitioner on bail at this stage may not be in the interest of justice. Per contra, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that, there is no purpose to be fulfilled by the prolonged detention of the petitioner in custody, and hence, he is entitled to be released on bail.

7. As already stated above, the petitioner is in custody since 06.03.2025. On a query by the Court, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the custodial interrogation of the petitioner is already over. There is also no contention for the prosecution that the petitioner is having criminal antecedents in connection with the involvement in similar offences. Since it is seen that the petitioner has been in custody for more than 18 days, and that there is no purpose to be fulfilled by the prolonged detention of the petitioner in custody, I deem it appropriate to grant regular bail to the petitioner, subject to strict conditions.

8. Moreover, it is a well accepted principle that the bail is the rule and the jail is the exception. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Chidambaram. P v Directorate of Enforcement [2019 (16) SCALE 870] , after considering all the earlier judgments, observed that, the basic jurisprudence relating to bail remains the same inasmuch as the grant of bail is the rule and refusal is the exception so as to ensure that the accused has the opportunity of securing fair trial.

9. Moreover, in Jalaluddin Khan v. Union of India [2024 KHC 6431] , the Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that:

“21. Before we part with the Judgment, we must mention here that the Special Court and the High Court did not consider the material in the charge sheet objectively. Perhaps the focus was more on the activities of PFI, and therefore, the appellant's case could not be properly appreciated. When a case is made out for a grant of bail, the Courts should not have any hesitation in granting bail. The allegations of the prosecution may be very serious. But, the duty of the Courts is to consider the case for grant of bail in accordance with the law. "Bail is the rule and jail is an exception" is a settled law. Even in a case like the present case where there are stringent conditions for the grant of bail in the relevant statutes, the same rule holds good with only modification that the bail can be granted if the conditions in the statute are satisfied. The rule also means that once a case is made out for the grant of bail, the Court cannot decline to grant bail. If the Courts start denying bail in deserving cases, it will be a violation of the rights guaranteed under Art.21 of our Constitution.”

(underline supplied)

10. In Manish Sisodia