NEW DELHI: In view of the prevalence of financial frauds through Ponzi schemes, the Supreme Court has ruled that cheating people of their hard-earned money falls under the category of heinous crimes and that those accused of such crimes cannot claim the benefit of the liberty principle of “bail is the rule and imprisonment is the exception”. A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.K. Vinod Chandran ordered an Allahabad court granting bail to the main accused in the cheating and forgery case – who has been absconding for a long time – on the basis that the other accused have been granted bail and it is a case of cheating that can be tried by a judge, thus classifying it as a non-heinous offence. “We may observe that the value of life and liberty to members of society is not limited only to their ‘person’, but also extends to their quality of life, including their economic well-being,” Justice Kumar said.Justice Kumar wrote the judgment in the financial fraud case that raises the threshold for economic offenders to get bail by putting them on par with those accused of heinous crimes. “In crimes of financial nature, where innocent people are duped of their hard-earned money by fraudsters, who make it their life to exploit and feed on the gullibility of others, the aforesaid factors must necessarily be weighed while dealing with the bail applications of the alleged offenders,” he said in the judgement.
Referring to the defendant’s activity in forging names and ID cards, and his intention to deceive and deceive people, the court said that this indicates that he is a professional criminal and a danger to society. It accepted the complainant’s appeal and set aside the Supreme Court’s order granting bail to the accused.
