The HC of Punjab and Haryana while hearing a bail petition of an accused directed all the Subordinate Courts in the States of Punjab, Haryana and U.T. of Chandigarh to release the accused, who have already been granted bail, on furnishing their personal bonds without enforcing the condition of surety bonds/bail bonds amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The single judge bench presided by Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill while passing the order clarified that a condition can be laid down that when the situation turns to be normal, the accused would be bound to furnish surety bonds/bail bonds.
The bail application was filed by Ishu Gover seeking issuance of direction to the subordinate judicial authorities for “better coordination and to work according to the guidelines issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and this Court.”
The applicant informed the bench that he was granted regular bail in two cases, one for theft and the other for snatching. However the orders were neither uploaded, nor copies were provided to the applicant. This the applicant urged amounted to utter ignorance of the orders granting regular bail.
The applicant further prayed for “issuance of various other directions i.e. to issue a reliable channel or contact number/emails to be flashed and circulated among the general public; to update all the contacts of Judicial Officers on duty on respective days along with their contact numbers/email and address(es) on the official website of the concerned District; to keep the websites of local administration and subordinate judiciary up-to-date with all the recent developments like updating case status, next business date and uploading or handing over the orders passed before or on the date, the lock down was announced.”
-India Legal Bureau