Proportionate bail conditions may be relaxed where passport renewal is pending and local surety is genuinely unavailable.

Bail conditions must be proportionate and workable, and may be modified where strict compliance would serve no meaningful purpose. A Delhi HC decision noted that an expired passport need not be deposited immediately when renewal is pending, because release on bail should not be obstructed by a condition that cannot yet be fulfilled; instead, the renewed passport is to be deposited later and travel risk controlled through restrictions. The Court also recognised that a foreign national's genuine inability to procure a local surety can justify relaxation of the surety requirement, provided effective safeguards remain in place. The local surety condition was therefore replaced with a personal bond and enhanced cash security.

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Issues: (i) Whether the bail condition requiring immediate deposit of the passport could be modified when the existing passport had expired and renewal was pending; (ii) Whether the requirement of furnishing a surety bond could be waived or substituted in view of the applicant's foreign nationality and inability to procure a local surety.

Issue (i): Whether the bail condition requiring immediate deposit of the passport could be modified when the existing passport had expired and renewal was pending.

Analysis: The applicant had already been permitted by the Trial Court to apply for a fresh passport, and the Court noted that issuance of the renewed passport would take time. In those circumstances, insisting on immediate deposit of the expired passport would prevent release on bail without serving a meaningful purpose. To secure the applicant's presence and prevent misuse of the renewed document, the Court directed that the applicant need not deposit the passport immediately, the FRRO shall ensure that he does not leave the country, and the renewed passport, when issued, shall be deposited directly before the Trial Court under intimation to the Court.

Conclusion: The passport condition was modified in favour of the applicant.

Issue (ii): Whether the requirement of furnishing a surety bond could be waived or substituted in view of the applicant's foreign nationality and inability to procure a local surety.

Analysis: The Court considered that bail conditions must be workable, proportionate, and not punitive, while still securing the accused's presence and preserving the integrity of the trial. Relying on the governing principles that a surety requirement is the norm but may be relaxed in exceptional cases of genuine inability, the Court accepted that the applicant, being a foreign national without social roots in India, could not readily procure a local surety. At the same time, the Court balanced the flight-risk concern by requiring enhanced cash security and strict compliance with other attendance and travel restrictions.

Conclusion: The surety condition was relaxed and replaced by a personal bond with enhanced cash surety, in favour of the applicant.

Final Conclusion: The bail conditions were materially modified to remove the immediate passport-deposit requirement and to substitute the local surety requirement with cash security, while maintaining safeguards to secure the applicant's presence during trial.

Ratio Decidendi: Bail conditions must be proportionate and practicable, and a court may relax or substitute a surety condition where the accused demonstrates genuine inability to furnish surety, provided effective safeguards remain in place to secure attendance and protect the trial process.

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