Bhosale a free man - SC declares alleged Customs offence as 'apparently' bailable! Is the Apex Court right?

I read the article by shri. chowdry with a lot of amusement. It appears to be a nice interpretation of the judgement of the Apex court by the author. What the author failed to note however was the distinction in the new amendment of section 135 of the Customs Act. The author also failed to note the last column of part II of the first schedule the with fine portion. This is what the apex court has interpreted to say that the customs offence is a bailable offence. Further, casting aspersions on a senior advocate of the stature of Shri. harish salve does not behove a person who is a senior retired officer of the revenue department.

Krishnanandh Santanam 08/10/2007

 

Ther is no change with regard to the period of maximum imprisonment under amended section 135(1) (ii)which continues to be up to 3 years.Once the imprisonment may extend to three years,it has to necessarily fall under S.No.2 of the Schedule to the Cr.PC.making the offence non-bailable.This is what the Gujrat & Delhi HCs had to say in the cases cited by me.That the amended proviso has reduced the minimum imprisonment to not lesss than a year would not make any differenec to the non-bailabilty of the offence.What is relevant is maximum period of imrisonment provided in the law for the offence.Even for offences punishable under Section 135 (1)(ii)prior to amendment,court could award imprisonment just for a day,and yet it was held by the afoementioned HCs that offence was non bailable.
Critical comments should not be seen as casting an aspersion on Shri Salve or for that matter on any one else.As a matter of fact it was he who had rather been unduly harsh on the judgment of Bombay HC if what is attributed to him is correct.we need to have a fresh decision from the apex court on the important issue in larger public interest & sooner ,the better! One also is not clear about the implication of words like "apparently bailable"used by their Lordships.These issues must be debated with open mind.

SK Choudhury

08/10/2007