Bail to under-trial prisoners: President signs bill

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday signed Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2011 to make a law that seeks to grant statutory bail both to under trial prisoners and the convicts whose trials and appeals have not been disposed of within a prescribed time limit. The bill was signed into law at a special ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Briefing the media about the new law, spokesperson to President Farhatullah Babar said that henceforth, an under trial prisoner shall be entitled to statutory bail if he has been charged with any offence not punishable with death and has been detained for one year. In case of an offence punishable with death, the accused shall be liable to statutory bail if the trial had not been concluded in two years, he added.
He said that convicts whose appeals are pending will also be entitled to statutory bail. A convict will be entitled to statutory bail if the term of imprisonment did not exceed three years and the appeal had not been decided within six months of conviction. In case of imprisonment exceeding three years but less than seven years, the convict will be entitled to statutory bail if the appeal remained undecided even after one year of conviction. If a convict has been sentenced to life imprisonment or imprisonment for more than seven years will be entitled to bail if his appeal remained undecided even after two years of conviction, he added.
Babar said that the law envisaged special concessions to under trial women prisoners. The timeframe specified for under trial women prisoners for eligibility to statutory bail is half of the timeframe for male convicts. A woman under trial prisoner will thus be entitled to statutory bail if she is accused of any offence not punishable with death and has been detained for over six months. In case of an offence punishable with death the accused woman prisoner shall be liable to statutory bail if the trial had not been concluded in one year instead of two years as in case of male under trial prisoners, he maintained.