The Punjab and Haryana High Court in an application filed for the grant of default bail under the NDPS Act held that the mere filing of an FSL report with the chargesheet in an NDPS case will not be a ground to cancel default bail granted to an accused and reiterated that default bail is an indefeasible right and cannot be defeated solely by the filing of a chargesheet.
Brief Facts:
The petitioner, booked under Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 filed the present petition under Section 482 of CrPC to set aside the order passed by the trial court which granted him only interim bail "till the filing of the challan and the FSL report" on an application filed under Section 167(2) CrPC for default bail.
Contentions of the Applicant:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner contended that Section 167(2) CrPC does not envisage any interim bail till the presentation of the challan and that in case the prosecution fails to file the final report/challan under Section 173 CrPC within the prescribed period, accused has a statutory right to be released from the custody. The counsel further referred to the judgement in Uday Mohanlal Acharya Vs. State of Maharashtra wherein it was held that if a charge sheet is not filed within the period stipulated in Section 167(2) CrPC and the accused files a bail application and offers to furnish bail, he is said to have availed the indefeasible right of being released on bail and this right shall not be defeated by subsequent presentation of the charge-sheet during the pendency of the bail application.
Contentions of the Respondent:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent contended that the challan had already been prepared and would be filed soon and further contended that after the filing of the challan, the default bail like any other regular bail, can be cancelled.
Observations of the Court:
The court after going through various judgements stated though merely on the filing of the charge sheet, a default bail granted under Section 167(2) CrPC cannot be cancelled, but if on the basis of the charge sheet, a strong case is made out and on special reasons being made out from the charge-sheet that the accused has committed a non-bailable crime and considering the grounds set out in Section 437(5) and Section 439(2) CrPC, then his bail can be cancelled on merits and that Courts are not precluded from considering the application for cancellation of bail on merits.
The decision of the Court:
The court modified the impugned order to the extent that though the petitioner is admitted to default bail under Section 167(2) Cr.PC, but said bail can be cancelled in case the prosecution is able to make out a strong case and show special reasons that the accused has committed a non-bailable crime and by considering the grounds set out under Sections 437(5) and Section 439(2) Cr.PC, however, merely filing the FSL report along with the challan in itself will not be considered a reason for cancelling the default bail.
Case Title: Bharat Kumar vs. State of Haryana
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta
Case No.: CRM-M-21583-2023
Advocate for the Applicant: Ms. Himani Anand and Mr. Rakesh Nehra
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Vipul Sherwal
Read Judgment @LatestLaws.com
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