Special Leave Petition Bail Process: Questions to Ask

India has an appellate system of justice in India, which means that the decision of one level of court can be called into question in a higher court; India’s appellate system has 3 levels of courts and the Supreme Court is the ultimate authority to have a say in any kind of legal dispute. Only cases involving death penalties can be put on hold for some time by writing a mercy petition to the President of India. Other than that, the decision of the Supreme Court is the final say in legal matters. However, did you know that under a specific article of the Constitution (Article 136 to be exact), the Supreme Court carries with it a special right? If no is your answer, read on to know more.

WHAT IS ARTICLE 136?

Article 136 basically grants the Supreme Court a special jurisdiction to grant a party (either the prosecution or the defense) a special leave to appeal any judgment or sentence passed by any level of a court within the Indian Territory. In cases where bail is a possibility, the same article allows one to seek bail from the Supreme Court if the lower courts have denied the same. We shall get into the intricacies of the same in later sections, but for now, just know that Article 136 gives the Supreme Court the discretion to grant a special leave to appeal any judgment if it thinks that proper justice has not been delivered which is possible due to a variety of reasons such as the improper admission of evidence, lack of evidence, burial of evidence, witness tampering, etc.

WHO CAN FILE FOR A SLP (SPECIAL LEAVE PERMISSION)

Any person or party that thinks they have been led astray and not served with the proper justice can file for Special Leave Permission with the Supreme Court and ask for extra time to prepare their case more extensively. Based on the merits of the case, the Supreme Court may or may not grant permission to party wholly on its discretion and is not obliged to state the reason(s) if it decides to not give the SLP.

PROCESS FOR FILING BAIL WITH THE APEX COURT

Bail from the Supreme Court can be obtained only through the means of a bail Special Leave Petition. If the High Court has refused bail, then the chances of getting one from the Supreme Court are sleeker unless the case has some interesting peculiarities. Even then, you shall need the services of the professional special leave petition advocate to get one; the lawyer shall present your case to the court highlighting the irregularities of the case. After examining the facts of the case, the Supreme Court is likely to give one of the following to the accused:

- Anticipatory bail from Supreme Court
- Regular bail from the Supreme Court
- Extension of time of surrender for convicts
- Suspension of sentence

While seeking bail through a Special Leave Petition, you need to keep one important thing in mind and be mentally prepared for it- the transfer petition in supreme court which means that the apex court can also choose to forward your hearing to a High Court of some other state instead of the state where the case is being fought. This may happen in situations where the majority of the evidence is likely to be found in some other state and so before troubling itself, the Supreme Court may ask that particular state to try the case.