Bail Applications

A college senior is picked up by the police after a business partner complains of cheating. He spends the night in the lock-up at the local police station and is produced before the Magistrate the next afternoon. His parents are outside the courtroom asking one thing: how soon can he come home? The answer depends on a single document that an advocate drafts in a few hours, asking the court to release him until the trial. What goes into it?

In two minutes

A bail application asks a court to release an accused person from custody on a bond, with or without sureties, until the case is decided; in a bailable offence bail is a matter of right under s.478 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (BNSS), in a non-bailable offence it is discretionary under s.480, and the High Court and Court of Session have wider powers under s.483.

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