The right to statutory bail is contingent upon the completion of investigation, not merely on the filing of a final report, with minor defects not affecting bail entitlement.

ORDER

The petitioner is the sole accused in Crime No.1129 of 2024 registered at Thoppumpady Police Station, Ernakulam City. The crime was initially registered under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (' BNSS ' for short) based on the information submitted by the petitioner on 29.10.2024 that a lady by the name Kabya Jyothi Kakati was found dead in Room No.9 of his lodge. Thereafter, on 05.11.2024, the investigating officer filed a report before the jurisdictional court to substitute with Section 103 (1) of the . The petitioner was arrested on 05.11.2024 and remanded by the court on the same day. As the custody of 90 days had been completed, on 03.02.2025, petitioner moved the competent court seeking statutory bail. The petition was heard by the court on 5.02.2025 and dismissed as per Annexure A1 order dated 06.02.2025. On the petitioner moving an urgent petition for obtaining a copy of the final report, it came to light that the charge sheet filed by the investigating officer had been returned on 15.02.2025, as it did not contain all the materials/documents listed in the index portion. Thereupon, petitioner filed a statutory bail application, which the learned magistrate dismissed as per Annexure A3 order dated 19.02.2025. Hence, this Criminal MC seeking the following reliefs;

“(a) Call for the records pertaining to Annexure Al and A3 order of the Hon'ble Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court-II Kochi in Crl.M.P. No.237/2025 and Crl.M.P. No.327/2025 dated 06.02.2025 and 18.02.2025, respectively and to set aside the same.

(b) Grant default bail to the petitioner in view of the failure of the Investigating Officer to file proper Final Report within the statutory time and thus order the release of the petitioner by imposing necessary conditions in the interest of justice.”

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the court below grossly erred in dismissing the statutory bail application. Relying on the Apex Court decision inRitu Chhabaria v. Union of India and Others [ 2023 (2) KLJ 794 ] and that of this Court inVimal K Mohanan v. State [ 2023 (2) KLT 214 ], it is argued that the relief of statutory bail is a fundamental right and final report filed without completing the investigation cannot result in denial of this valuable right. According to the Counsel, non-production of the indexed documents along with the final report is a major defect. Referring to Rule 68 of the Criminal Rules of Practice, Kerala, it is argued that the defective final report should have been returned on the same day of filing. It is his submission that the delay in verifying the final report by the court has caused irreparable injury to the accused.

3. Learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the investigation in the case was completed and charge sheet submitted in court on 31.01.2025. As the seizure mahazar of the blood sample of the victim was not attached to the charge sheet, it was returned by the court on 15.02.2025. After rectifying that defect the charge sheet was re-submitted on 17.02.2025 and the charge was taken on the files of the court, numbered as C.P.No.6 of 2025.

4. The contention urged on behalf of the petitioner was answered by this Court inVimal K Mohanan (supra). Therein, after careful scrutiny of Section 167 of the CrPC, which is pari materia to Section 187 of the BNSS , it is held as under;

“As discussed earlier, the criteria for deciding the entitlement for default bail is completion of the investigation and not filing of the final report. The word 'final report' is not mentioned in S.167. Therefore, when faced with the Public Prosecutor's application seeking extension, or that of the accused demanding statutory bail, the court's consideration should be whether the final report was filed after completing the investigation. If the final report is found to have been filed after completing the investigation in all respects, minor defects in the report, by itself, will not confer the accused with any