A Court Recall That Impacts the Rights of the Accused

Why in News?

• Upon the insistence of the Solicitor-General of India (SG) that central investigation agencies were ‘facing difficulties', the SC passed an order seeking to recall its own decision in Ritu Chhabaria vs Union of India’.
• The apex court’s clarification that courts could grant default bail independent of and without relying on the Ritu Chhabaria judgment has caused concern among legal professionals.

 

Right to default/statutory bail

• This is a right to bail that accrues when the police fail to complete investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody.
• This is enshrined in [Section 167(2)] the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)where it is not possible for the police to complete an investigation in 24 hours, the police produce the suspect in court and seek orders for either police or judicial custody.
• A Magistrate can order an accused person to be detained in the custody of the police for 15 days. 
• Beyondthepolice custody period of 15 days, the Magistrate can authorize the detention of the accused person in judicial custody i.e., jail if necessary.
• However, the accused cannot be detained for more than:
  • 90 days, when an authority is investigating an offense punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment for at least ten years; or
  • 60 days, when the authority is investigating any other offense.
• In some other special laws like Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, this period may vary. For example, in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the period is 180 days.
• At the end of this period, if the investigation is not complete, the court shall release the person “if he is prepared to and does furnish bail”.
• The right to default bail has been characterised by the court in multiple judgements as an indefeasible right flowing from the Article 21 of the constitution which guarantees right to life and personal liberty.

 

SC Judgement in Ritu Chhabaria vs The Union of India

• The CBI, which had arrested Ritu Chhabaria’s husband in April 2022, got his custody renewed from time to time by filing multiple supplementary chargesheets. He was never released on default bail.
• Ritu Chhabaria’s petition asked the SC to consider whether this practice of filing supplementary chargesheets defeats the right of accused to default bail under Section 167(2) of CrPC.
• A division bench of the SC held that an accused is entitled to default bail if the chargesheet is incomplete and requires further investigation.

 

Significance of SC judgement in Ritu Chhabaria vs The Union

• The judgement had upheld default bail as a fundamental right of accused persons against the arbitrary powers of the State.
• The court in this decision delegitimised practices by investigating agencies wherein investigating authorities would file the chargesheets incomplete or otherwise after 60/90 days period before the accused could file the bail plea.

 

Some other Judgements

• Achpal vs State of Rajasthan (2018): The Court held that an investigation report, even if it’s complete, if filed by an unauthorised investigating officer, would not bar the accused from availing default bail.
• S.Kasi vs State (2020): The Court further said that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the investigating agencies would not be allowed any relaxation towards computing the maximum stipulated period of investigation, which could lead to additional detention of the accused.

 

What led the Supreme Court to “Recall its own decision[Ritu Chhabaria]”?

• Arguments by the Union
  • The judgment contradicted the SC’s own past verdicts and it would not apply to special laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
  • The ED represented by SG backed the recall application by separately filing an appeal against the default bail granted by the Delhi HCto Manpreet Singh Talwar, an accused in a money laundering case who relied on the Ritu Chhabaria verdict.
  • Many accused have filed bail applications across the country relying on Ritu Chhabra Judgement.
• The SC’s verdict:
  • A Division Bench led by CJIdirected courts to “defer” any decision on default bail pleas filed on the strength of the Ritu Chhabaria judgment.
  • Later, the SC made it clear that its interim order does not prevent any trial court or HC from considering a request for default bail under the CrPC without relying on the Ritu Chhabaria case verd

 

Implications of SC order to recall its previous judgement

• This order would impact the rights of the accused to be released from custody.
• It would lead to further erosion of the constitutional rights of the accused and deviate from fundamental principles of criminal procedure.
• The right to default bail which has been interpreted from Article 21 could be bypassed by investigating agencies citing “facing difficulties in investigation”.

 

Conclusion

• To counter the powers granted to investigating authorities through extended detention, a default/statutory bail provision was incorporated.
• However, over a period of time, these protections have been diluted by authorities by filing supplementary charges or incomplete chargesheets.
• The recall order of SC has serious implications and it is imperative that the three-judge bench does not sacrifice procedural propriety at the altar of administrative convenience.

 

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Source: The Hindu