Burden on Uttar Pradesh to ensure bail granted in trial, says Supreme Court

The order was passed by a bench headed by Justice MM Sundresh. | Photo credit: PTI

The Supreme Court said the onus rests on Uttar Pradesh to ensure that prisoners who have been granted bail do not continue to languish in jail due to their inability to meet the conditions of their release, such as furnishing bail, cash security or furnishing local sureties.

The order was passed by a bench headed by Justice MM Sundresh after it learned that of the 264 undertrial prisoners who were granted bail in just 20 of the 75 districts in the country’s most populous state, only 158 could be released after fulfilling bail conditions imposed by trial courts. The remaining 106 had to continue behind bars for various reasons, including the inability to provide financial security or a guarantor to cover them.

Senior advocate Gaurav Aggarwal, amicus curiae of the court, said that such a situation exists only in 20 districts. Statistics from the other 55 districts of Uttar Pradesh about prisoners who were forced to stay in jail due to their impoverishment were not yet known.

The counsel for Uttar Pradesh assured the court that “the needful will be done within a reasonable time”.

The court had earlier directed the district legal services offices of Uttar Pradesh to reach out to these prisoners and provide them with legal assistance.

Private lawyers

In a significant development, the apex court said legal services authorities should not turn their backs on undertrial prisoners who had private lawyers but still could not meet bail conditions.

“Merely because private attorneys have been employed, the assistance of County Legal Services counsel cannot be denied. . . . No distinction can be drawn between inmates on trial who have assistance from County Legal Services and those who have hired private counsel,” the court reasoned.

The court said that both categories of prisoners face the same hurdle of being denied their liberty despite being granted bail. The denial of personal liberty, even though the court found them to deserve it only because they could not financially afford the conditions imposed by the courts of first instance, affected their fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“In any case, it is up to the state to ensure that these persons are released from custody,” the Bench pointed out.

The Supreme Court also asked the trial courts concerned to suitably adjust the conditions to allow the release of the undertrial prisoners on bail. The court made it clear that its order would apply in favor of prisoners in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The court listed the suo motu case “In re policy strategy for grant of bail” for hearing in January 2027.

Published – 10 Nov 2026 22:28 IST