HOW TO DRAFT A BAIL APPLICATION?

PART 1: DRAFTING THE BAIL APPLICATION

The last shorticle pointed towards the change in situation of a case when the Chargesheet (a.k.a. “Final Report” under section 173 CrPC) is filed by Police, which opens a window for the Accused to apply for Bail before the Magistrate/Sessions Court, as the case maybe.

Why the filing of Chargesheet by Police is considered as a good occassion to file Bail Application?

Chargesheet filed = Investigation finished

The very reason behind filing a Bail Application after when the Chargesheet is filed is because the Police, through this Chargesheet, have submitted their FINAL REPORT to the Magistrate with regards to the alleged crime committed by the Accused person.

This Final Report (or Chargesheet) contains statements of Accused person(s), witnesses, Post Mortem Report and all other documents relevant to the crime as recorded/obtained by the Police, which is considered to be a conclusion of an exhaustive investigation done by the appointed I.O. (Investigating Officer).

In other words, the Police, now after the Final Report is filed, cannot request the Magistrate for extension of custody stating that the “investigation is ongoing”, which the police authorities usually do to keep the Accused in custody.

 

  

How to prepare a Bail Application?

Following are the basic points which shall mandatorily go into a Bail Application draft:

1.   THE CAUSE TITLE:

a.    The Name and No. of the Court before which you are filing this Bail Application –

BEFORE THE LD. METROPOLITAN MAGISTRATE

17th COURT AT BORIVALI, MUMBAI

b.    Name & Details of Parties: Remember a Bail Application is always filed against the State, as the act of keeping the Accused under custody has been taken by the State (i.e. Police).

Mr. ABC XYZ                                )

Age: 25 yrs; Occ: Service            )

Residing at: 12/34, AB C.H.S,     )

XYZ Road, Mumbai                      ) …Applicant

 

Versus

 

State of Maharashtra                   )        

(Through Borivali Police Station))…Respondent

 

2. Subject of Bail Application shall include the exact section which empowers the Magistrate/Sessions Court to grant you Bail (i.e. Section 437 of CrPC).

APPLICATION ON BEHALF OF THE APPLICANT FOR GRANT OF BAIL U/s. 437 OF CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973.

 

3.   Body of the Complaint – In order to clearly reiterate the broad points that are ought to be present in the Bail Application are follows:

a. Facts related to important past dates/incidents:

A Bail Application should ideally start with a summary of exact dates starting from the Date of FIR registered against you; Date of your Arrest; Date of filing Chargesheet by Police; and, such other important dates/instances related to your case since filing of FIR.

b. Earlier rejected Bail Applications (if any):

It is extremely important to approach the Court with clean hands, therefore, the fact about previous rejected bail applications (if any) should always be mentioned in the Application. The Judge will question your conduct if this fact is later found out through the Public Prosecutor, [i.e. the Legal Counsel for the State of Maharashtra in the above example], which is bound to happen. 

c. Prosecution Story: [This is a suggestion]

The story of the Prosecution can be easily made out from the documents such as FIR, Chargesheet etc. which the Public Prosecutor will, no doubt, use in order to get your Bail rejected. In that situation, it becomes both easy for the Judge, if you can mention the Prosecution’s story in your Application under the heading “PROSECUTION STORY”, and thereafter mention your factual/legal arguments in an attempt to rebut the Prosecution’s story. It makes the Judge’s task lot easier and he/she will appreciate the same, provided he/she reads your Bail Application thoroughly.

d. Factual Grounds: Mention your factual grounds which are refuting the Prosecution’s Story in a chronological manner. 

e. Legal Grounds: Mention the Legal Grounds such as case laws, Bare Act provisions and other such sources of law. You may require some help from a lawyer for this.

f. Documentary proofs: If you are mentioning anything in the Bail Application from a specific document, then annex it with the Bail Application as “Annexure - A”… “Annexure - B”… and so on. In case there are Court Orders that you intend to annex, make sure you have a “True Copy” of the same.

 

4. PRAYER:

This should contain the exact reason as to what do you want from this Court. In this case, the reason being - “Grant of Bail to the Accused” in the instant case. 

 

Though, initially, I wanted this Shorticle to contain both “Drafting” and “Execution” parts with regards to obtaining bail from Magistrate/Sessions Court. However, due to my fickle mind approach and the extensivity of this topic, I will share with you the above mentioned “Execution Procedure” in the next upcoming Shorticle.

Also, there is a reason that I call these as SHORT-ICLES.

 

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TO READ THE NEXT BLOG CLICK HERE:

WHAT IS THE COURT PROCEDURE INVOLVED IN GETTING BAIL?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Advocate Shreyas Jain, being a legal practitioner based in Mumbai, specializes in Criminal Law and primarily deal with criminal matters placed before Metropolitan Magistrates and Session Courts at Mumbai & Thane. Mr. Jain is a first generation lawyer and believes in working and excelling at the ground level before going big. You may reach him through his e-mail jainshreyas1995@gmail.com

 

NOTE: VIEWS MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE ABOVE ARE PERSONAL AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY PERSON, PLACE, ORGANISATION OR ANY OTHER FALLING UNDER THE DEFINITION OF ‘PERSON’ UNDER INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860.