Bail Laws in Bangladesh:
The term Bail has not been defined in the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898. Bail has been recognized as a process of releasing of an accused from the police custody under certain conditions. The concise oxford dictionary defines bail as security for the appearance of prisoner on giving which the accused is released during pending of trial.
In Bangladesh mainly the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (CrPC) deals with the the basic provisions of Bail.
Section 4(b) of the CrPC has categorized offences into two categories. Such as:
- Bailable Offence: Bailable offence means an offence shown as bailable in the second schedule of the CrPC, or which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force;
- Non-bailable Offence: Non-Bailable offence means an offence shown as non-bailable in the second schedule of the CrPC, or which is made non-bailable by any other law for the time being in force;
Section 496 of the CrPC deals with ‘In what cases bail to be taken‘ and it states as follows:
When any person other than a person accused of a non-bailable offence is arrested or detained without warrant by an officer in charge of a police-station, or appears or is brought before a Court, and is prepared at any time while in the custody of such officer or at any stage of the proceedings before such Court to give bail, such person shall be released on bail.
Section 497 of the CrPC delas with ‘When bail may be taken in case of non-bailable offence‘ and it states as follows:
When any person accused of any non-bailable offence is arrested or detained without warrant by an officer in charge of a police-station, or appears or is brought before a Court, he may be released on bail, but he shall not be so released if there appear reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of an offence punishable with death or transportation for life:
Provided that the Court may direct that any person under the age of sixteen years or any woman or any sick or infirm person accused of such an offence be released on bail.
