Regular bail on settled custody principles: senior citizen status, prolonged detention, and filed challan justified release.

Personal liberty was treated as a constitutional safeguard, and pre-trial detention was said to be justified only where necessary to secure attendance, prevent tampering with evidence, or address a real risk of absconding. Applying those settled bail principles under Section 439 CrPC, the HC noted that the petitioner was a senior citizen, had remained in custody since 22.08.2023, and that the challan had already been filed. On that basis, and without expressing any view on the merits, the Court found no sufficient reason to continue custody and held the petitioner entitled to regular bail.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to regular bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: The petition was considered on the settled principles governing bail, namely that personal liberty is a valuable constitutional safeguard, bail is not punitive, and pre-conviction detention should be ordered only where necessary to secure attendance at trial, prevent tampering with evidence, or address a real apprehension of absconding. The Court noted that the petitioner was a senior citizen, had been in custody since 22.08.2023, and that the challan had already been filed. On that basis, and without expressing any view on the merits, the Court found no sufficient reason to continue custody.

Conclusion: The petitioner was held entitled to regular bail.

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