SC rejects CBI plea to review its decision against piecemeal charge sheets

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Supreme Court has rejected a plea filed by the CBI seeking a review of its earlier verdict, which held that an investigating agency cannot file a charge sheet or prosecution complaint without completing the investigation, merely to deprive an arrested accused of their right to default bail.

“Having perused the review petition and the connected papers with meticulous care, we do not find any justifiable reason to entertain the review petition. The review petition is, accordingly, dismissed,” a bench of CJI B.R. Gavai and Justice M.M. Sundresh ordered.

In a judgment passed in April 2023, a bench of then Justices Krishna Murari and C.T. Ravikumar had ruled that a charge sheet filed without completing the investigation cannot defeat an accused’s right to default bail. It held that the right to default bail is not just a statutory entitlement under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) but a fundamental right flowing directly from Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

If a charge sheet is filed by an investigating agency without completing the investigation, the trial court cannot continue to remand the arrested person beyond the stipulated time without granting default bail, the top court added.

In its judgement, the Supreme Court noted that the practice of filing incomplete charge sheets “has now taken the form of filing charge sheets without actually completing the investigation, only to scuttle the right of default bail”.

“If we were to hold that charge sheets can be filed without completing the investigation, and the same can be used for prolonging remand, it would in effect negate the purpose of introducing Section 167(2) of the CrPC and ensure that the fundamental rights guaranteed to accused persons are violated,” it said.

The decision came on a writ petition filed by Ritu Chhabaria seeking the release of her husband, who was arrested by the CBI and held in custody beyond the stipulated period without a complete investigation being concluded.

The plea argued that the continuous filing of piecemeal supplementary charge sheets was a tactic to prevent his release on default bail.

However, in May 2023, a two-judge bench comprising then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice J.B. Pardiwala passed an interim order directing courts across the country to defer hearings on applications based on the Ritu Chhabaria judgment, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought a recall of the verdict. The operation of this interim order has been extended from time to time.

–IANS

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