A Single Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday referred the question, whether an accused in the Prevention of Destruction of Public Property (PDPP) case should be asked to deposit cash security equal to the damaged public property as a condition precedent to release him on bail at the pre-trial stage, to a larger bench.
Justice S Satheesachandran issued the order while considering an appeal seeking modification of the condition to release on bail in the destruction of public property cases.
Director-General of Prosecution T Asafali submitted that the court could impose such a rigorous condition to safeguard public property.
“After the court had insisted for deposit, the destruction of public property during agitation became less.
“The leaders are now playing an effective role to restrain their followers from committing any mischief on public property,” Asafali submitted.
The court pointed out that in fact the views of the Single Judge that vandalism perpetrated over public property during protests and agitations can never be justified and that deterrent action such as imposing stringent conditions while granting bail is necessary to prevent such abuses.
However, as long as there is no legislation to have a different approach in the grant of bail to the accused involved in the offences under the PDPP Act, it is not appropriate for courts to insist for deposit of the cash security equivalent to the damaged property as a condition to release the accused at the pre-trial stage.
Kaleeswaram Raj, Amicus Curiae appointed by the court in the case, pointed out that the imposition of such a condition is a negation of justice.
The accused will be termed as guilty and it has not been sanctioned by the law. It could not be imposed before pronouncing a final verdict in the case related to the destruction of public property.
The condition being imposed to prevent public property from being vandalised was an intrusion into the liberty of the accused and his rights to be released on bail at the pre-trial stage, Kaleeswaram Raj said.