{"id":242634,"date":"2023-05-16T21:19:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T15:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=242634"},"modified":"2023-05-16T21:19:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T15:49:27","slug":"a-court-recall-that-impacts-the-rights-of-the-accused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-court-recall-that-impacts-the-rights-of-the-accused\/","title":{"rendered":"A Court recall that impacts the rights of the accused"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source-<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cA Court recall that impacts the rights of the accused\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 16th May 2023.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Indian constitution<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>– Issues related to fundamental rights<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– On May 12, in its interim order, the Supreme Court clarified that courts could grant default bail without relying on the Ritu Chhabaria judgement.<\/p>\n

What are provisions related to bail in the Indian legal system?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The right to statutory bail<\/strong> is available to accused persons in cases when the investigating agency fails to complete its investigation within the stipulated time<\/strong>. It is often known as default bail.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)<\/strong>, the maximum time available to investigators is 60 or 90 days. It depends on the seriousness of the offence.<\/p>\n

If the authorities are unable to complete the investigation within this time period, the accused can apply for default bail under Section 167(2) of the CrPC.<\/p>\n

The right to bail has been described by the Court in multiple judgments as an indefeasible right. <\/strong>It flows from Article 21 of the Constitution. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In Achpal vs State of Rajasthan<\/strong><\/em> (2018<\/strong>), the Court held that an investigation report filed by an unauthorised investigating officer, would not bar the accused from availing default bail.<\/p>\n

In S. Kasi vs State<\/em> (2020)<\/strong>, the Court further stated that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the investigating agencies would not be allowed any relaxation for the maximum stipulated period<\/strong> of investigation. It could lead to additional detention of the accused.<\/p>\n

Why are provisions related to bail not effective?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These protections related to bail have eroded in practice<\/strong>. Investigating authorities routinely filed incomplete or supplementary charge sheets<\/strong> within the 60\/90 day period, to prevent the accused from seeking default bail. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In other instances, the investigating authorities would file charge sheets, incomplete or otherwise, after the 60\/90 day period. It is before the default bail application <\/strong>could be filed by the accused.<\/p>\n

What are SC viewpoints in the Ritu Chhabaria<\/em> case?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Ritu Chhabaria<\/em><\/strong> delegitimizes such illegal practices. It held that incomplete charge sheets<\/strong> filed by the police would not bar an accused from applying for default bail.<\/p>\n

The Court emphasised that the preliminary or incomplete nature<\/strong> of these police reports revealed that the investigation was not complete.<\/p>\n

In Jasbir Singh<\/em> (2023)<\/strong>, the Supreme Court held that a complete charge sheet filed within time could not be rejected because the investigation did not have sanction.<\/p>\n

Why is the SC decision to recall its judgement in the Ritu Chhabaria<\/em> case is alarming? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Right to default bail<\/strong> could be made subservient to concerns of \u2018difficulties\u2019<\/strong> faced by investigative authorities.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court also agreed to defer decisions on bail for accused persons across the country as per Ritu Chhabaria case guidelin<\/em><\/strong>es<\/em>. It makes the matter even more serious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source- The post is based on the article \u201cA Court recall that impacts the rights of the accused\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 16th May 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Indian constitution Relevance– Issues related to fundamental rights News– On May 12, in its interim order, the Supreme Court clarified that courts could grant default bail without… Continue reading A Court recall that impacts the rights of the accused<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-242634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}