Supreme Court: Accused Can't Claim Default Bail for Delayed Chargesheet Copy

Supreme Court Wednesday held that an accused person cannot claim default bail on the ground that the chargesheet, which was filed in court within the statutory period, was not provided to him according to that timeline. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N K Singh said, "We are of the view that simple non-filing of additional copies of the chargesheet/police report will not entitle the appellant to the relief of default bail. This Court, while considering default bail under the erstwhile CrPC, has expounded that the relief of default bail is limited to non-filing of the chargesheet itself and once the chargesheet is filed in its proper form, the question of default bail does not arise," the bench said. The court rejected the plea of an accused person facing prosecution for online fraud. He was arrested by CBI on July 13 last year, and the prosecution filed a chargesheet against him and the other accused on Sept 2. A copy of the chargesheet was provided to the appellant on Sept 23. Saying that he was not provided the document within 60 days, the time limit for filing the chargesheet, he sought default bail. "... the non-filing of additional copies of the chargesheet under Section 193(8) would not vitiate the chargesheet/police report itself. As was the case under the erstwhile CrPC, the position under BNSS is to remain that the right to default bail arises when the chargesheet is not filed within a period of 60 or 90 days, as applicable. Once the chargesheet is filed, in compliance with the form prescribed under Section 193(3) of BNSS within the aforesaid period, the right to default bail ceases. Non-compliance with Section 193(8) of the BNSS cannot be construed to give the same result as Section 187(3) of the BNSS," bench said.