SC rules bail order removes all hurdles to person's liberty.

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court through a judgment has made it clear that if a court concludes that an accused is entitled to be released on bail, then the order should be executed at once and his liberty cannot be tacked to more conditions.

'If the court comes to a conclusion that an accused is entitled to be released on bail, then of course such bail granting order cannot be subjected to riders (additional terms) and conditions,' says a five-page judgment authored by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood while giving guidelines on the issue of disapproving the grant of bail to an accused on certain conditions.

The verdict is an important milestone in elucidating the link between the right to liberty and pretrial detention and understanding towards respect to the principle that punishment begins after conviction, and that every man is deemed to be innocent until duly tried and duly found guilty.

"While admitting to an accused person on bail, actually he is released from the custody of the authorised officer/judicial lock-up of the court and his custody is entrusted to a person known as his surety, who is bound to produce him in court at a specific time and place to answer the charge against him.

'Even no condition can be imposed upon an accused person in order to desist him from the repetition of the offence. This court, since 1963 till date, has dis-approved the imposition of any condition while granting bail to an accused person as Section 499 of the Code, under which bail bonds are submitted in the court, is very much clear that bail bonds are...