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Default bail cannot be granted under section 167 of CRPC after filing of the charge-sheet: Manipur high court

Statutory bail under section 167 of CRPC shall be provided in case of default before the filing of the charge sheet the bail application should be submitted as was decided in the case of Ramyang Keishing versus the state of Manipur ( B.A No. 24 of 2021)  by the single bench judge of HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE AHANTHEMBIMOL SINGH

In this case, an application was filed to grant bail to the petitioner under section 439 CRPC .petitioner was booked under  POCSO Act, 2012 and was in judicial custody since 05.11.2018 the learned counsel on behalf of petitioners submitted that after more than 1 a year of the arrest the petitioner could not file bail application in time before the filing of charge sheet for granting statutory bail due to financial reasons the learned counsel submitted that the I.O fail to submit the prescribed charge sheet within the statutory period the petitioner is entitled to grant default bail under section 167 CRPC.

The council for respondents argues that the section 167 (2) CRPC to release on bail on default if the charge-sheet is not filed within the prescribed period from the date of arrest is not an absolute or indefeasible right. The said right would be lost if a charge-sheet is filed and would not survive after the filing of the charge-sheet and in this case, the application was not filed within the prescribed method as before consideration of the bail application and before being released on bail, if charge-sheet is filed, the said right of the accused to be released on default bail would be lost and the bail application deserves to be rejected.

The honorable court was of the view that the charge-sheet on 11.11.2019 after about 1 (one) year from the date of arrest of the petitioner. Even though the petitioner is entitled to the grant of statutory bail as provided under section 167 of the CRPC on account of a default of submitting charge-sheet within the prescribed period, however, as the petitioner did not file any application for releasing him on statutory bail before the filing of the charge-sheet and as the petitioner filed such application only after the charge-sheet has been filed hence the petitioner is not entitled to default bail and dismissed the above application due to lack of merit.

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judgement reviewed by Naveen sharma