Haryana assembly passes Bill to relax bail conditions for approvers

The Haryana assembly on Tuesday passed the Code of Criminal Procedure (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2022. Four Bills were introduced in the House and were likely to be passed on Wednesday

The Haryana assembly on Tuesday passed the Code of Criminal Procedure (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2022. The statement of objects and reasons of the Bill said the condition of mandatory detention of the approver in custody till the conclusion of the trial in Section 306 (4) (b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, was discriminatory and created artificial classification between two types of persons willing to be approver- those who are already on bail and those not on bail.

The amendment Bill passed by the Haryana assembly now provided that every person accepting a tender of pardon may, in case he is already in custody, be detained in such custody for such period, as the court may consider necessary for reasons to be recorded in writing, or be released on bail on such conditions as the court may think fit for the purposes of this section. (HT File Photo)

“This classification has no rationale or connection with the object sought to be achieved. It also interfered with or restricted the discretion of the court granting tender of pardon, worked as a deterrent to the accused persons who are otherwise willing to turn approver and caused disadvantage to the investigating agencies,’’ it said.

Section 306 of CrPC allowed a judicial magistrate to tender a pardon to a person (an approver) supposed to have been directly or indirectly privy to an offence, at any stage of the investigation or the trial of the offence on the condition of his making a full and true disclosure of the whole of the circumstances pertaining to the offence.

However, its sub-section 4 (b) said that every person accepting a tender of pardon be detained in custody until the termination of the trial unless he is already on bail.

The amendment Bill passed by the House now provided that every person accepting a tender of pardon may, in case he is already in custody, be detained in such custody for such period, as the court may consider necessary for reasons to be recorded in writing, or be released on bail on such conditions as the court may think fit for the purposes of this section.

Four Bills - Haryana Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Haryana Water Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Haryana Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the Haryana Municipal Committee (Amendment) Bill, 2022, were introduced in the House and were likely to be passed on Wednesday.