The Supreme Court has reiterated that prolonged pre-trial detention cannot be permitted to degenerate into punishment without trial, granting regular bail to former Rajasthan Congress minister Mahesh Chandra Joshi and Mukesh Pathak, who are accused in a corruption case relating to alleged irregularities in tenders under the Jal Jeevan Mission in Rajasthan, Live Law reported.
A Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu held that an undertrial's fundamental right to personal liberty and a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution must be protected even in cases involving grave allegations of financial impropriety, Live Law reported. The allegations are allegations at this stage and have not been proved at trial.
Bar and Bench reported that the order, dated October 16, 2026, relates to a case involving the alleged use of forged documents to secure contracts worth Rs 979.45 crore — yaani about Rs 9.79 billion — under Rajasthan's Jal Jeevan Mission, and that the case arose from an Anti-Corruption Bureau enquiry into alleged irregularities in tenders issued by Rajasthan's Public Health Engineering Department.
Source: Bar and Bench — Pre-trial detention cannot become punishment without trial: Supreme Court
The Court observed: "As repeatedly emphasised by this Court, prolonged pre-trial detention cannot be permitted to degenerate into punishment without trial in derogation of an undertrial's Fundamental Right to personal liberty and speedy trial guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution," Live Law reported.
While acknowledging that allegations of large-scale financial impropriety and institutional collusion in the implementation of a public welfare project warranted serious scrutiny and that the State was justified in opposing bail, the Bench held that the gravity of the allegations, however serious, cannot by itself eclipse all other considerations governing the grant of bail or justify indefinite pre-trial detention, India Legal reported.