Provisions as to Bails and Bonds — Section 436 to 450

When a celebrity is arrested, the first question on television is always: will he get bail? Yet bail is not a favour for the famous. It decides whether an accused person waits for trial at home or in a jail cell, sometimes for years. Does everyone have a right to bail? Is a murder accused treated the same as a person who has allegedly cheated someone of a small amount? And what happens to the person who stands as surety if the accused runs away? The bail chapter of the procedure code is the answer to each.

In two minutes

Bail is a matter of right in bailable offences (s.478), a matter of judicial discretion in non-bailable offences (s.480), available in advance from the High Court or Court of Session as anticipatory bail (s.482), and supported by a system of bonds, sureties and forfeiture (ss.484 to 496).

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Criminal Procedure Code 1973, Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and POCSO Act 2012 on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.