The Delhi High Court has delivered a sharp rebuke over the grinding pace at which bail pleas are being decided, calling the prolonged pendency of such matters a “serious concern” that inflicts trauma and chips away at constitutional safeguards.
In a recent hearing in Amir vs State (NCT of Delhi), Justice Girish Kathpalia did not mince words. Bail applications, he stressed, are not meant to gather dust — whether they are ultimately allowed or rejected. Letting them linger for months, even years, amounts to punishment before trial.
The case before the court involved Amir, accused in a murder case, who has been in custody since October 2021. His bail plea had first landed before the High Court in December 2024. Since then, it had drifted across benches, adjourned time and again, without a substantive hearing.
Justice Kathpalia noted that the delay was not confined to the High Court alone. The plea had remained pending before the trial court for over 25 months, despite an application seeking early hearing. The judge recorded the “anguish” expressed by the defence over the extended wait — a wait that continued even after the matter reached the higher forum.
The court underlined a principle reiterated in numerous rulings: a bail plea must be decided promptly. Justice delayed, in such cases, is not merely procedural inefficiency — it becomes a source of psychological strain for the incarcerated and a potential violation of fundamental rights.
Significantly, while opposing the plea, the State acknowledged that the possibility of witness tampering did not arise, as the prosecution witnesses had already been examined. Amir, for his part, contended that the fatal incident occurred in the heat of the moment.
Taking into account the prolonged incarceration and the exceptional delay in adjudicating the bail plea, the High Court granted relief. The order was directed to be transmitted to the Jail Superintendent without delay — a final reminder that liberty, once unjustly stalled, should not be kept waiting any longer.
