IMPORTANT POINT
If prosecution fails to file chargesheet for offence under Section 304-B IPC within 60 days of arrest of accused, accused becomes entitled to bail under Section 167(2)(a)(ii) Cr.P.C.

ORDER

Vikramaditya Prasad, J. - This writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution has been filed for quashing the order dated 29.3.2001 passed by the learned Addl. Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jamtara, in G.R. Case No. 471/2000 arising out of Jamtara (Mihijam) P.S. Case No. 193/ 2000 (S.T. No. 348/200n, now pending in the court of Sessions Judge, Jamtara, whereby and whereunder the application filed by the petitioner under Section 167(2) Cr PC has been rejected.

2. Briefly stated, the petitioner is an accused in a case under Section 304B, 201/34, IPC. He surrendered in the Court below in the aforesaid case on 24.1.2001 and since then he is in jail. The charge-sheet in this case was filed on 21.4.2001 though his 60 days detention in jail had been completed on 26.3.2001. The petitioner had filed an application under Section 167(2). Cr PC for his release on bail on 27.3.2001. The matter was heard on 27.3.2001 and 28.3.2001 and on 29.3.2001 the application of the petitioner dated 27.3.2001 was rejected.

3. The main ground for rejection was that the petitioner was an accused under Section 304-B. IPC in which the prescribed punishment is imprisonment of not less than 7 years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life and consequently the learned court below felt that the case of the petitioner fell under the purview of Section 167(2)(a)(i) Cr.P.C. and hot under Section 167(2)(a)(ii) Cr PC and in arriving at the said decision, learned court below has relied Oh the decision reported in 1999 Cr.L.J. 2645.

4. The main question that has arisen for consideration in this writ application is "whether, in cases of offences under Section 304-B, IPC where minimum punishment prescribed is not less than 7 years, the charge-sheet has to be submitted within a period of 60 days by the Investigating Agency from the date of surrender/arrest and whether the accused becomes entitled to statutory bail in the event of failure in submission of the charge-sheet within that period".

5. It is, in this connection worthwhile to quote Section 167(2)(a)(i), Cr.P.C.:

"167(2) (a) Provided that: -

(a) The Magistrate may authorise the detention of the accused person, otherwise than in the custody of the police, beyond the period of fifteen days, if he is satisfied that adequate grounds exist for doing so, but no Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the accused person in custody under this paragraph for a total period exceeding,

(i) ninety days, where the investigation relates to an offence punishable With death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years;"

(ii) ………………..

and, on the expiry of the said period of ninety days, or sixty days, as the case may be, the accused person shall be released on bail if he is prepared to and does furnish bail, and every person released on bail under this sub-section shall be deemed to be so released under the provisions of Chapter XXXIII for the purpose of that Chapter."

from a simple analysis of this provision, it appears that it includes the following category of offences:

(a) offences punishable with death

(b) offences punishable with life imprisonment or offences punishable with imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years.

6. The word 'punishable' has been used in the aforesaid section for the offence punishable with life imprisonment which comes within the mischief of this section. 'Punishable' in my opinion, does not mean that ill all cases the convict must be punished with life sentence. Plainly and simply, it means that in suitable cases the offence is punishable with life imprisonment.

7. Section 304-B(2), IPC, being apposite in this connection, is quoted below:

"304-B(2). Whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life."

The sentence prescribed for an offence under Section 304-B. IPC, as stated above, is not less than 7 years, but it may exten