In granting permanent medical bail to Varavara Rao, the Supreme Court made it clear that stringent restrictions against bail in laws like UAPA don't hinder constitutional courts from protecting fundamental rights of citizens. Last year SC had relied on this principle to uphold bail to a UAPA accused arguing that his incarceration for over 5 years while the trial crawled on was unjustified. But Rao's bail granted on technical grounds- medical condition, advanced age, adherence to bail conditions, delay in framing charges doesn't answer any of the larger questions confronting the justice system. Too many people not yet proven guilty are in jail, bail as norm and jail as exception is defeated by draconian laws like UAPA that require judges to deny bail if they believe police cases to be prima facie true. This puts lower court judges in a fix. The Bhima Koregaon case is disturbing on many counts. Despite multiple SC rulings on prompt hearing and disposal of bail applications, Stan Swamy died in judicial custody while waiting for the Bombay HC to decide on his bail plea. Many of the accused were arrested in 2018, but forget trial even framing of charges is not over ; also there are claims that some of the ' evidence' was planted on the accused's electronic devices. These claims can be substantiated only if the trials begin. Long delays give credence to the worries that in laws with draconian bail conditions the process / custody becomes the punishment. Undertrials as a percentage of the prison population have been steadily increasing and are at 76% now. Comprehensive bail laws and other judicial reforms are needed to ensure that the process doesn't become the punishment; for some the wait for trial / bail becomes a one way ticket to heaven.
