The Supreme Court recently granted bail to a 65-year-old man accused of cheating and forgery, who has been in custody for over seven months and suffers from 50% visual disability.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan expressed concern over the growing number of cases where accused individuals, even in minor offences triable by a Magistrate, are forced to approach the apex court for bail.
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"It is very unfortunate that in such cases accused has to travel up to Supreme Court for getting bail," the Court stated.
The appellant is facing charges under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged documents), read with Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
The bench noted that the accused, due to his advanced age and visual disability, had already spent considerable time in jail. These factors, along with the nature of the offences being triable by a Magistrate, supported the decision to grant bail.
“The offences are triable by court of magistrate. The appellant has undergone incarceration for more than 7 months. The age of appellant is 65 years and he suffers from 50% visual disability.”
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The Court ordered that the accused be presented before the trial court within one week. The trial court was instructed to release him on bail with suitable conditions, including his regular attendance at all hearings and full cooperation during the trial process.
Interestingly, this is not the first time such a concern was raised. Last year, Justice Oka, along with Justice Augustine George Masih, made similar observations in another bail matter, where the accused had spent over a year in custody for offences triable by a Magistrate and even the charge had not been framed.
“Very unfortunate that now people are not getting bail even in magistrate triable cases, very unfortunate. And people have to come to the Supreme Court for this,” Justice Oka had remarked orally.
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This judgment again brings attention to the long-pending issue of delayed bail hearings and highlights the need for more responsive bail procedures at the lower court level, especially in cases involving elderly or disabled accused.
Case no. – SLP(Crl) No. 3838/2025
Case Title – Radheyshyam Sharma v. State of Rajasthan
