Sick Can Get Bail Under Stringent Anti-Money Laundering Law: Chief Justice

"However stringent PMLA is, as judges we have to operate in the four corners of the law. Law tells us that someone who is sick and infirm be granted bail," Justice Chandrachud said.

The maxim that bail is norm and jail exception and even stringent laws have a humane face, was reinforced again today by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who allowed bail for an ailing man arrested under the rigorous anti-money laundering law. "However stringent PMLA is, as judges we have to operate in the four corners of the law. Law tells us that someone who is sick and infirm be granted bail," Justice Chandrachud said. 

"That he could be treated at a government hospital is no answer to what the statute says. Sick or infirm means you can be granted bail," he added, while presiding over a three-judge bench hearing the interim bail petition of 67-year-old Amar Sadhuram Mulchandani, former chairperson of Seva Vikas Co-operative Bank, who was arrested in July last year.

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA is non-bailable since unlike other laws, the accused here has to prove that he is not guilty. An accused gets bail only when the court is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that he is not guilty of the offense, and not likely to commit any offense while on bail. Even so, the public prosecutor has to be given an opportunity to oppose bail.