On Wednesday, the High Court of Bombay held that no period from actual detention, especially the day of the first remand of the accused & that of filing of the charge sheet, can be excluded from consideration while counting the period for default bail.

“The period envisaged under Section 167(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has to be calculated from first date of remand order & the said day cannot be excluded,” said Justice PD Naik while granting default bail to Deepak Kudalkar, who was arrested by Navghar police for cheating & criminal breach of trust.

He was arrested on Feb 26, 2020, the day on which an FIR was registered against him. He was produced before a magistrate & was remanded in police custody the same day.

On May 26, 2020, he applied for bail contending that the period of ninety days for filing charge sheet against him was over on May 25, & thus he was entitled to default bail as provided for in section 167(2) of the CrPC.

However, an Additional Sessions Judge at Thane rejected his petition after the Police filed charge sheet on May 26 itself. The Sessions Court concluded that the date of first remand & the date of filing of charge sheet were excluded from the period of sixety or 90 days — depending on the punishment provided in the sections applied in the case, as per sections 9 & 10 of the General Clauses Act.

Kudalkar then moved High Court contending that he was entitled to default bail & the 2 days could not be excluded from the statutory period, as done by the Sessions Court.

Justice Naik accepted his arguments. After perusing case law on the subject, the judge held that the provisions of the General Clauses Act were inapplicable in the case & “there cannot be exclusion of any period from authorised detention while computing the period of 60 days or 90 days as the case may be by invoking provisions of General Clauses Act”.

High Court then held that Kudalkar was entitled to default bail as no charge sheet had been filed till the time he applied for default bail on his 91st day in detention, & ordered that the accused be released on furnishing personal bond in the sum of ₹50,000. 

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