Can the Court completely divorce its decision from material aspects of the case?

Can the court completely divorce its decision from the material aspects of the case?

The aforementioned question was answered by the in the case – Kamala Devi v. State of Rajasthan ( 2022 LL (SC) 272)

Fact – In this case, Bail was granted by Rajasthan High Court to an accused charged for murder. The wife of the deceased approached the Supreme Court challenging the bail granted to the accused. She stated that no reason has been assigned by the High Court of Rajasthan for the grant of bail to the accused.

Held – The bench comprising Justice M R Shah and B V Nagarathna set aside the bail granted by High Court of Rajasthan and held that a court while deciding a bail application under section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, can’t completely divorce its decision from material aspects. They need to consider the material aspects of the case such as –

• severity of the punishment if the allegations are proved beyond reasonable doubt which would result in a conviction;
• tampering of the evidence;
• allegations made against the accused;
• reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being influenced by the accused;
• criminal antecedents of the accused;
• frivolity in the case of the prosecution; and
• a prima facie satisfaction of the Court in support of the charge against the accused