Grant Of Statutory Bail Not Interlocutory Order But Final Order: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently observed that the grant of statutory bail is not an interlocutory order but a final order.

“As far as the maintainability of the Revision Petition is concerned, the grant of Statutory Bail cannot be considered as an Interlocutory Order. It is a final order releasing the Applicant on Bail as the investigation could not be completed and the final report could not be filed within the period of 60/90 days by the prosecution,” Justice Navin Chawla observed.

The court said that merely because some of the documents are not filed with the First or Initial Chargesheet, as the investigation is still going on, would not vitiate the said chargesheet and would not entitle the accused to a grant of Statutory Bail.

Justice Chawla dismissed a plea moved by an accused who was granted statutory bail by the Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) but the order was later set aside by the sessions court after the prosecution challenged the same.

The MM had observed that prima facie, the offence under Section 467 of the IPC was not made out against the accused. However, the sessions court observed that at the stage of consideration of an application seeking Statutory Bail, the MM should not have given such an observation.

Rejecting the plea, the court noted that the Metropolitan Magistrate had, on a bail application filed by a co-accused in the same FIR, observed that there was a prima facie case under Section 467 of the IPC also made out.

“No reason was supplied by the learned Magistrate to reach a contrary finding in the order passed barely around 13 days thereafter,” the court said.

It ordered the accused to surrender before the Trial Court or the Investigating Officer within two weeks.

“This order shall, however, not preclude the petitioner from filing an application seeking regular bail from the learned Trial Court,” the court said.

It added that any bail application filed by the accused shall be decided by the Trial Court expeditiously and on its own merits in accordance with law.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr.Abhishek Paruthi, Mr.Harshit Thareja and Ms.Vijaya Rathi, Advs

Counsel for Respondent: Mr. Shoaib Haider, APP; Ms.Richa Kapoor, Mr.Kunal Anand, Mr.Deepak Singh, Mr.Jai Batra, Ms.Atika Singh and Ms.Kriti Gera, Advs. for Complainant

Title: AMARJEET SINGH DHILLON v. STATE NCT OF DELHI

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 683

Click here to read order