Former Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Sunday said that bail before conviction should be a matter of right, but added that courts need to examine cases in depth when national security is involved, PTI reported.

Chandrachud made the remark at the Jaipur Literature Festival after he was asked by the debate moderator about his views on the Supreme Court denying bail to activist Umar Khalid in the 2020 Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.

“They’ve been inside for five years,” ANI quoted Chandrachud as saying. “I’m not criticising my court...you can impose conditions to ensure that the conditions for bail are not abused, but you must necessarily take into consideration that they have the right to an expeditious trial. And if an expeditious trial is not possible under present conditions, then bail should be the rule and not the exception.”

However, the former chief justice said that bail can be denied if there is a possibility of the accused person committing another crime, tampering with evidence or escaping.

“If these three grounds are not present, then bail must be granted,” PTI quoted Chandrachud as saying. “I think that where national security is involved, it is the court’s duty to examine the case in depth. Otherwise, what is happening is that people remain imprisoned for years.”

Chandrachud said that during his two-year tenure as the chief justice, the Supreme Court disposed of about 21,000 bail applications. “There are cases which people don’t think about when they criticise the Supreme Court for not granting bail,” he said.

On January 5, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria denied bail to Khalid and Sharjeel Imam – both activists and former Jawaharlal Nehru University students. The court, however, allowed the bail applications of Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Shadab Ahmed and Muhammad Saleem Khan.

The bench said that Khalid and Imam can file bail applications after all protected witnesses are examined or after one year.

The court said that the material on record showed that Khalid and Imam were the “masterminds” of the alleged conspiracy to spark violence in Delhi, and that there was a prima facie case against them under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Also read: Five years later: Delhi Police’s riots conspiracy case is built on sand

Commenting on the case during an interview in September, Chandrachud had said that Khalid’s counsel had sought adjournments at least seven times in his bail petition, and subsequently withdrew the plea.

However, an analysis by Alt News showed that of the 12 adjournments that were sought between May 2023 and February 2024, only two were sought by the petitioner’s side alone. The rest were either sought by the respondent, requested jointly by the prosecution and defence or by the bench itself.