In Brief
Shyam Lal had spent over 13 years in custody pending the disposal of his criminal appeal filed in 2014. The Supreme Court held that given the prolonged detention and the uncertainty of when the appeal would be heard (and declining to expedite it), the appellant merited bail on humanitarian and procedural grounds. The Court ordered his release on bail subject to the satisfaction of the trial court and such conditions as it deemed appropriate, balancing the interests of justice with the principle against indefinite pretrial or pre-appeal detention.
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