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Achpal @ Ramswaroop & Another v. State of Rajasthan

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 856Decided 24 Sept 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 1218 of 2018
Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

The appellants were arrested on 8 April 2018 in an FIR alleging a group assault and other IPC offences, and remained in custody. Two days before their 90-day investigation deadline expired, the High Court, on a separate plea for a fair probe, recorded the Public Prosecutor's assurance that a senior (Additional SP-rank) officer would investigate and file a report within two months. The police filed a chargesheet on 5 July 2018, but because it was filed by an officer below that rank, the Magistrate returned it for compliance, meaning no valid chargesheet existed when the 90-day period expired on 7 July 2018. The trial court and the Rajasthan High Court both refused the appellants' default-bail application, reasoning that the High Court's earlier order had effectively extended the investigation period.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that since no chargesheet was on record with the Magistrate on the 90th day, the appellants' indefeasible right to default bail under Section 167(2) CrPC had accrued and could not be defeated by the papers being returned for technical non-compliance. It further held that the CrPC gives no court the power to extend the statutory investigation period (unlike special statutes such as TADA or MCOCA which expressly allow this), and that the High Court's order merely recorded a prosecutor's submission rather than granting any extension. The Court relied on its earlier rulings in Uday Mohanlal Acharya and Rakesh Kumar Paul to hold that once the accused applies for bail after the deadline lapses without a valid chargesheet, the Magistrate must release them. It allowed the appeal and directed bail on conditions to be fixed by the trial court, while clarifying this does not bar re-arrest on cogent grounds followed by a fresh regular-bail application.

Lesson Learnt

If the police do not file a valid, compliant chargesheet within the 60/90-day statutory limit, an arrested person gets an automatic right to bail the moment they apply for it: courts cannot stretch that deadline on their own, even informally, without a law specifically permitting it.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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