An accused has an indefeasible right to statutory bail if detained beyond the prescribed period without a charge sheet, as per Section 187(2) of the BNSS.

ORDER

Dated this the 13th day of November, 2024

The application is filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023, by the sole accused in Crime No.1228/2024 of the Alappuzha South Police Station, Alappuzha, which is registered against him for allegedly committing the offences punishable under Sections 20 (b)(ii)(A) and 22(b) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act , 1985. The petitioner was remanded to judicial custody on 05.09.2024.

2. The prosecution case, in brief, is that: on05.09.2024, at 00:15 hours, the accused was found in conscious possession of 7.20 grams of MDMA and 114 grams of ganja. He was arrested on the spot with the contraband article. Thus, the accused has committed the above offences.

3. Heard; Sri.K.Dhruv Kumar, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Smt.Pushpalatha.M.K, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor.

4. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is innocent of the accusations levelled against him. There is no material to substantiate the petitioner’s involvement in the crime. The Investigating Officer has deliberately implicated the petitioner as an accused. In any given case, the petitioner has been in judicial custody for the last more than two months, the investigation in the case is not complete and the complaint (charge sheet) has not been filed. Since the contraband involved in the case is an intermediate quantity, the maximum punishment that can be imposed on the petitioner is up to ten years. Therefore, the petitioner is entitled to statutory bail. Hence, the application may be allowed.

5. The learned Public Prosecutor opposed the application. She submitted that the investigation in the case is in progress. She also stated that the petitioner is involved in two other crimes out of which one is under the NDPS Act. If the petitioner is enlarged on bail, there is every likelihood of him committing a similar offence. Hence, the application may be dismissed. Nevertheless, she did no dispute the fact that the investigation in the case is not complete and the charge sheet has not been filed.

6. The prosecution allegation is that, the petitioner was found in conscious possession of 7.20 grams of MDMA and 114 grams of ganja. He was remanded to judicial custody on 05.09.2024. Indisputably, the maximum punishment that can be imposed on the petitioner is up to ten years. The investigation in the case is not complete and the charge sheet has not been filed. Therefore, the petitioner is entitled to statutory bail.

7. In the aforementioned context, it is apposite to refer to Section 187 (1) to (4) of the BNSS , which reads as follows:

“187. Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours.(1) Whenever any person is arrested and detained in custody, and it appears that the investigation cannot be completed within the period of twenty-four hours fixed by section 58, and there are grounds for believing that the accusation or information is well- founded, the officer in charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation, if he is not below the rank of sub-inspector, shall forthwith transmit to the nearest Magistrate a copy of the entries in the diary hereinafter specified relating to the case, and shall at the same time forward the accused to such Magistrate.

(2) The Magistrate to whom an accused person is forwarded under this section may, irrespective of whether he has or has no jurisdiction to try the case, after taking into consideration whether such person has not been released on bail or his bail has been cancelled, authorise, from time to time, the detention of the accused in such custody as such Magistrate thinks fit, for a term not exceeding fifteen days in the whole, or in parts, at any time during the initial forty days or sixty days out of detention period of sixty days or ninety days, as the case may be, as provided in sub-section (3), and if he has no jurisdiction to try