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State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Sadique and Ors.

Diary No. · 2022 INSC 311Decided 15 Mar 2022
Diary No. 1930 of 2022

Background

In the underlying criminal appeal, the accused (respondents) had been granted default/statutory bail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act after the Supreme Court held, relying on its earlier decision in Bikramjit Singh v. State of Punjab, that only "the Court", not a Magistrate, is competent to grant an extension of the investigation period under the proviso to Section 43-D(b) of UAPA, and since no such extension had validly been granted, the accused were entitled to default bail. The State of Madhya Pradesh sought review of that order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court condoned the delay in filing the review petition but rejected the State's request for an open-court hearing on it. Examining the review on its merits (on the papers), the Court found no error apparent on the face of the record that would justify interfering with its earlier order, and accordingly dismissed the review petition, leaving the grant of default bail undisturbed.

Lesson Learnt

Under UAPA, only a designated "Court", not a Magistrate, can extend the investigation period to defeat an accused's right to default bail; and a review petition succeeds only on a clear, apparent error, not by re-arguing the original case.

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

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