Recently, the Supreme Court set aside a Madhya Pradesh High Court order suspending the sentence of a murder convict, holding that the condition imposed -requiring the appellant to plant ten saplings of fruit-bearing, neem, or peepal trees “as a matter of social cause” -cannot withstand the test of bail jurisprudence. The Court expressed displeasure over such directions, observing that reformative measures or acts of social responsibility cannot serve as standalone substitutes for the statutory requirements governing suspension of sentence or grant of bail.

Can sapling justice withstand the test of bail law?

The law permits Courts to take a liberal approach in the case of suspension of a fixed-term sentence as has been reiterated recently by the Supreme Court. This was clarified w

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