Report No. 268

F. Bail in Economic Offences

11.20 In a country where there is a high incidence of economic crimes, the government and bureaucracy are also viewed as being corrupt and weak274. India is no exception to such phenomena. Economic offences, such as counterfeiting of currency, financial scams, fraud, money laundering, etc. are crimes which imperil the nation's security and governance. Further, the diversion and investment of the black-money acquired by committing such crimes generates another set of crimes and the hegemony of the criminal syndicates rule. Thus, it forms a vicious circle which poses threats to public security and eventually national security which would appear imminent as an ultimate consequence275., In the light of various scams like circulation of counterfeit currencies, black-money etc., such economic offences have necessitated a change in approach towards grant or denial of bail in such offences to tackle the menace effectively.

All forms of economic offences which include tax evasion, customs offences or bank fraud should be dealt with strictly and provision for restricted bail in such offences should be incorporated in the Criminal Procedure code or appropriate special statutes for the purpose of granting or refusing bail. There is no classification of offences in IPC, s. 437(1) Cr.P.C. provides that when bail may be taken in case of non-bailable offence. Similarly, in economic offences, on the question of grant of bail, the nature and gravity of the offence, the adverse impact of scam and the extent of money involved would be the decisive factors. The Law Commission has therefore suggested that bail in economic offences be treated differently.