Can't File Charge Sheet Without Completing Investigation: Supreme Court

According to section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), an accused will be entitled to default bail if the investigating agency fails to file a charge sheet within 60 days from the date of remand.

In an important verdict, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that an investigating agency cannot file a charge sheet in court without completing a probe to deprive default bail to an accused.

According to section 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), an accused will be entitled to default bail if the investigating agency fails to file a charge sheet within 60 days from the date of remand. For certain category of offences, the stipulated period can be extended till 90 days.

"Without completing the investigation of a case, a charge sheet or prosecution complaint cannot be filed by an investigating agency only to deprive an arrested accused of his right to default bail under Section 167(2) of the CrPC," a bench of Justices Krishna Murari and C T Ravikumar said.

Such a charge sheet, if filed by an investigating authority without first completing the investigation, would not extinguish the right to default bail, it said.