The Supreme Court has advised all High Courts across the country to incorporate a rule that petitioners seeking bail should mandatorily mention their criminal antecedents, as well as details of previously filed bail pleas, if any, in their applications.
The Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Mehta on Friday asked the High Courts to follow the example of the Punjab & Haryana High Court and incorporate a similar rule as Rule 5 of Chapter 1-A(b) Volume-V of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Rules.
As per the Rule, in every application for bail filed before the High Court, the petitioner should state whether similar application has been made to the Supreme Court, and if made, the result thereof should be stated.
The petitioners/applicants should also mention whether they were involved in any other criminal case. If yes, the particulars and decisions thereof should be mentioned. An application which did not contain this information should be placed before the Bench with necessary information, the Rule 5 added.
The Apex Court directed that a copy of its order should be communicated to the Registrar Generals of all High Courts for incorporation of a similar Rule in their respective Rules list.
The top court of the country made these observations while expunging the strictures passed by the Rajasthan High Court against a judicial officer in relation to his decision in a bail application.
Citing several precedents, the Apex Court observed that High Courts should refrain from making adverse comments against judicial officers in respect of the decisions taken by them.
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