Further Detention Invalid If Extension Order For Submitting Final Report Under Section 173 CrPC Itself Is Set Aside: Punjab And Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that further detention of an accused becomes unlawful if an order granting extension to submit the final report under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) itself is overturned.

The court passed the ruling on a revision petition filed by one, Rajpal alias Billu challenging the dismissal of his application for default regular bail in a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

The case revolved around an incident where a police party, acting on secret information, intercepted two individuals, Mani Ram and Vishal, who were suspected of carrying a significant quantity of charas in a car. Subsequently, the police arrested Mani Ram and the driver, Rajpal alias Billu, while Vishal managed to escape. The authorities seized 1.8 Kg of charas from the vehicle.

The petitioner had been under detention since 13.02.2022. The Investigating Officer sought an extension of time to submit the report under Section 173(2) of the CrPC, as the initial 180-day period was about to expire. The application was allowed vide order dated 02-08-2022 and an extension of 90 days was granted.

The petitioner then filed an application for default bail under Section 167(2) of the CrPC on 30-08-2022, which was subsequently dismissed on 31.08.2022.

The petitioner argued that since the application under Section 167(2) Cr.P.C. for grant of default bail had been declined only on account of the fact that the period for the presentation of challan was extended by 90 days, the petitioner was now entitled to the grant of default bail as the order had been set aside by the High Court by an order dated 16-05-2023 in a separate proceeding.

The State, on the other hand, acknowledged that if the extension order was invalidated, the petitioner would be entitled to grant of bail under the said provision.

Delving into Section 167(2) proviso (a) of the CrPC, Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi said that an accused has an undeniable right to default bail if the Investigating Agency fails to submit the report under Section 173 of the CrPC within the stipulated period.

Justice Bedi noted that in this case, an extension of 90 days had been granted due to the absence of the FSL report.

"Once this Court has held that the grant of extension of 90 days in the presentation of the challan itself is bad in the eyes of law, the further detention of the petitioners would be in violation of Section 167(2) Cr.P.C. read with Section 36A(4) of the NDPS Act," the court said while ordering release of the accused.

Case Title: RAJPAL @ BILLU vs. RAJPAL @ BILLU CRR-1850-2022 (O&M)

Present:

Mr. Pardeep Singh Poonia, Advocate and Mr. Pulkit Dhanda, Advocate

for the petitioner.

Mr. Neeraj Poswal, Asst. A.G., Haryana.

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