High Court slams class bias in denying bail to juvenile over slum residence
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has condemned the tendency to deny bail based on an accused person’s slum residence, calling it an “unconscious elitist mindset” and constitutionally impermissible stereotyping.
The court highlighted that millions in India live in humble dwellings, often on the peripheries of elite urban colonies, but that cannot be a reason to view its people through a lens of suspicion.
The court also cautioned that the justice system must not allow unconscious prejudices and elitist thinking to cloud decision-making. “While dispensing justice, the courts should not bear a closed and prejudicial mindset towards the poor and marginalized sections of our society, including those who live in slums. Justice must always be rooted in empathy, fairness, and an unwavering commitment to equality,” the Bench added.
The observations came on a criminal revision petition filed by a juvenile, who approached the High Court after his bail was declined both by the Juvenile Justice Board and Ambala Additional Sessions Judge.
The petitioner had been in custody since May 30, 2023 in a drugs case, and had already undergone more than half of the maximum three-year sentence he could be awarded.
“The ground reality is that a vast section of our country, our Bharat, lives in such humble dwellings on the peripheries of expensive residential areas, yet they nurture resilient values, rich cultural mores, deep and enduring social bonds with their tight-knit community, which comprises one’s kith and kin,” the Bench asserted.
These communities far from being hubs of delinquency were often close-knit, offering warmth, support, mutual care, emotional sustenance, and a sense of belonging; qualities that an institutional setting can seldom replicate and are starkly missing in the observation homes, it added.
“By no stretch of imagination can it be sweepingly implied that the people who live in slum areas are likely to be more unethical, immoral, dishonest, criminally deviant, or are any less human beings as compared to those who live in high-end areas of urban and modern colonies,” the court asserted.
The Bench asserted a close scrutiny of the Principal Magistrate’s reasoning revealed that the primary ground for denying bail was the petitioner’s residence in a slum. The Additional Sessions Judge, too, echoed this view, branding the slum address as an adverse factor against bail.
Calling this approach deeply problematic, the Bench stated: “An arbitrary as well as an insensitive assumption that people living in slums are more likely to come in association with known criminals or likely to expose the said person to moral, physical, or psychological danger, and the person’s release would defeat the ends of justice, is belittling humanity and, thus, is indurate and derogatory.”
The Bench asserted such a mindset was “constitutionally abhorrent and antithetical to the very ethos of any democracy.”
The Bench added the bail was also denied on the ground that the child’s father was no more and the mother had abandoned him. Holding that this too betrayed a misplaced approach, the court stated: “To view orphanhood as a disqualification for bail is to disregard the very spirit of the Juvenile Justice Act, which recognizes the right of every child to be cared for by the community and the State. The absence of parents cannot by itself be a justification for continued confinement in an observation home.”
The court added such a child, on the contrary, deserved greater compassion and support, and not prolonged detention in the observation homes. In fact, the orphan would be better cared for by his peer group and the community that would surround him. “This would make his transition and reintegration back into society more efficient and impactful, securing the best interests for all his future prospects.”
It added the courts must be vigilant not to let unconscious prejudices, biases, or preconceptions against the economically weaker or socially marginalized cloud judgment and eclipse ability to reason.
Punjab