Depositing Rs 1 crore as bail condition in unreasonable: SC

The Supreme Court today quashed a Delhi High Court order directing an accused to deposit Rs one crore as a condition for granting anticipatory bail.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said that courts should impose "reasonable" condition for granting bail.
"The words any condition used in the provision should not be regarded as conferring absolute power on a court of law to impose any condition that it chooses to impose.
"Any condition has to be interpreted as a reasonable condition acceptable in the facts permissible in the circumstance and effective in the pragmatic sense and should not defeat the order of grant of bail," the bench said.

It said that imposing condition of depositing Rs one crore was unreasonable and quashed the high court order.
"In the case on hand, fixed deposit of Rs. 1,00,00,000/- for a period of six months in the name of the complainant and to keep the FDR with the investigating officer as a condition precedent for grant of anticipatory bail is evidently onerous and unreasonable," it said.
"We are of the view that the present facts and circumstances of the case do not warrant such extreme condition to be imposed," it said.