This Criminal Miscellaneous Petition is to set aside the order of the learned Judicial Second Class Magistrate, Nilakottai, refusing to release the petitioners on bail.

2. From the short order, it is seen that the offences alleged to have been committed by the petitioners are under S. 302 I.P.C. The petitioners filed an application on 9th October, 1979, before the Judicial Second Class Magistrate, Nilakottai, in Crl. M.P. No. 1448 of 1979, Praying for bail under S. 167(2)(a) Crl. M.P., as the petitioners were in custody for over a period of ninety days and the charge-sheet has not been laid. The court ordered notice to the respondent Inspector of Police, Sholavandan and fixed the hearing on 10th October, 1979. But, in the meanwhile, on 9th October, 1979, itself, the charge-sheet was filed. The learned Magistrate dismissed the application on 10th October, 1979 on the ground that as the charge sheet has been filed, there was no reason to invoke the provisions of S. 167(2). It is against that order that the petitioners have filed this application invoking the inherent jurisdiction of this court under S. 482, Cr.P.C.

3. Section 167(2), Cr.P.C., is a section that is newly intr