An accused cannot claim the right to be let out on statutory bail if a judicial magistrate returns the charge sheet, laid by the police within the statutory period, for wrong reasons, thereby causing a delay in representing the document, the Madras High Court has held.
In a judgement reserved in the principal seat of the High Court in Chennai and delivered in the Bench here, Justice C.T. Selvam held that “every return of charge sheet, filed within the stipulated period, would not entitle the accused to claim the right to be released on statutory bail”.
He pointed out that mere return of charge sheet by the Magistrate could not lead to a conclusion that the final report was defective since there were possibilities of the judicial officer having returned it without a sufficient cause and the police deciding to represent it without any major change.
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“Thus if a final report of the investigating officer informs with sufficient clarity that upon investigation, he has been able to procure evidence sufficient for the court to enquire into and informs therein the names of the accused, the names of the witnesses, the nature of offences and requests that the case be tried, the same would amount to due compliance with Section 173(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” he said.
While Section 173 (2) stated that the final report or charge sheet should be filed immediately on conclusion of investigation, Section 167 (2) gave the right to the accused to be released on statutory bail if the final report was not filed within 90 days in cases of offences that attracted a punishment of not less than 10 years of imprisonment and within 60 days for other kinds of offences.
Therefore, whether a charge sheet could be validly declared as defective and not to have been filed within the statutory limit “would depend on whether the Magistrate was or was not right in returning the charge sheet,” Mr. Justice Selvam concluded.
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