The Supreme Court recently granted bail to an accused in a money laundering case, emphasizing that prolonged incarceration without the likelihood of trial completion violates fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan heard the plea of Udhaw Singh, who had been in custody for 14 months. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) listed 225 witnesses, but only one had been examined so far.

The court referred to its previous judgments in Union of India v. K.A. Najeeb and V. Senthil Balaji v. Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement, stating that when trials under stringent laws like PMLA and UAPA are likely to extend indefinitely, Constitutional Courts have the power to grant bail to prevent violations of fundamental rights.

"Constitutional Courts must exercise their authority to grant bail in cases where trial delays threaten the fundamental rights of the accused." – Supreme Court

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The bench also distinguished this case from the recent judgment in Assistant Director v. Kanhaiya Prasad, where bail was denied under Section 45 of the PMLA due to non-fulfillment of its twin conditions.

However, the Supreme Court clarified that:

• In Kanhaiya Prasad’s case, the accused had been in custody for less than seven months, whereas Udhaw Singh had already spent 14 months in jail.
• There was no finding of unreasonable delay in Kanhaiya Prasad’s trial, but Udhaw Singh’s case showed significant delay, with only one witness examined out of 225.

"After reviewing the judgment in Kanhaiya Prasad’s case, we find that the factual circumstances were different, and therefore, our ruling here does not contradict that decision." – Supreme Court

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During the hearing, the Solicitor General conceded that the ruling in V. Senthil Balaji’s case could be applied here. Based on this, the court ruled that Udhaw Singh should be granted bail.

The Supreme Court directed that Udhaw Singh be presented before the Special Court within one week, with the following bail conditions:

1. He must appear regularly before the Special Court.
2. He must fully cooperate with the judicial process.
3. He must surrender his passport (if any) to the court.

"Constitutional Courts cannot allow provisions like Section 45(1)(ii) to be misused to keep an accused in prolonged incarceration when trial completion is uncertain." – Supreme Court