In Brief
The Supreme Court declared Section 45(1) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 unconstitutional. This section imposed strict bail conditions (requiring court satisfaction that the accused is not guilty of a scheduled offence and unlikely to reoffend) on persons charged with money laundering when the related predicate offence carried sentences exceeding three years. The Court held that classifying based on a predicate offence's sentence has no rational nexus to money laundering prosecution, creates manifestly arbitrary distinctions (identical offences attract different bail treatment based on procedural posture), and inverts the presumption of innocence without compelling state interest. The twin conditions lack relation to money laundering guilt and apply to unrelated predicate offences. All cases were remanded for fresh bail decisions without applying Section 45.
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