An accused is entitled to statutory bail if detained beyond the prescribed period without a charge sheet, establishing an indefeasible right to bail.

ORDER

The application is filed under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 , by the sole accused in Crime No.673/2024 of the Thalassery Police Station, Kannur, which is registered against him for allegedly committing the offence punishable under Section 22 (c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 . The petitioner was remanded to judicial custody on 08.07.2024.

2. The crux of the prosecution case is that: on 08.07.2024, at around 4:30 hours, the accused was found in conscious possession of 26.45 grams of MDMA.

He was arrested on the spot with the contraband article.

Thus, the accused has committed the above offence.

3. Heard; Sri.Cibi Thomas, 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 culpability in the crime. The petitioner has reliably learnt that, as per the chemical analysis report, the contraband involved in the case is methamphetamine and not MDMA.

Therefore, the contraband is of an intermediate quantity. The petitioner has been in judicial custody for the last nearly four months, the investigation in the case is not complete and the complaint (charge sheet) has not been filed. 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 not complete. Moreover, the petitioner is a person with criminal antecedents, since he is involved in three other crimes of a similar nature. Hence, the application may be dismissed. However, she submitted that, as per the chemical analysis report issued by the Chemical Examiner’s Laboratory Department, Kozhikode, dated 10.10.2024 the contraband involved in the case is methamphetamine and not MDMA.

Furthermore, the investigation in the case is not complete and the charge sheet has not been filed.

6.The prosecution case allegation is that, the petitioner was found in conscious possession of 26.45 grams of MDMA , which is of a commercial qunatity. Now as per the chemical analysis report, the contraband is found to be methamphetamine and not MDMA. Therefore, the contraband involved in the case is of an intermediate quantity. The learned Public Prosecutor also conceded to the fact that the offence has been altered to Section 22 (b) instead of 22(c). The fact remains that the petitioner has been in judicial custody for the last more than 100 days, the investigation in the case is not complete, the maximum punishment that can be imposed on the petitioner is up to ten years and the charge sheet has not been filed.

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,