BC-005 · "Bail is the rule. Jail is the exception."

On 18 May 2026, Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan granted bail to Syed Iftikhar Andrabi, held nearly six years under UAPA with 350 prosecution witnesses still unexamined and no recovery. The bench held that Section 43D(5) UAPA cannot override Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution. It then explicitly criticised the Supreme Court's own January 2026 denial of bail in a separate UAPA case, finding it departed from established principle without expressly overruling the larger bench. The Bureau commends both acts — the holding and the self-correction.