NDPS Act | Can Accused Get Default Bail If FSL Report Isn't Submitted With Chargesheet Within Prescribed Time? Supreme Court Refers To Larger Bench

The Supreme Court has referred to a larger bench the question as to whether a person accused of committing offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 is entitled to default bail on the failure of the prosecution to furnish the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory along with the chargesheet within the prescribed time.

A two-judge bench comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and PV Sanjay Kumar referred the question to a larger bench in view of the the diversity of views expressed by different benches.

The issue before the Court was whether non-furnishing of the FSL report with the chargesheet, within the prescribed time, would entitle an accused to default bail on the ground that it would be an incomplete chargesheet without such a report.

The bench was considering a Special Leave Petition filed against a judgment of the Delhi High Court which rejected his plea for default bail on the ground of non-supply of the FSL report.

The bench took note of the judgment passed by a coordinate bench in Central Bureau of Investigation vs. Kapil Wadhawan and Anr 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 58 which held that a chargesheet will not be invalidated merely because the prosecution did not supply certain documents along with it.

The bench also noted that there are other pending petitions in which the same question is raised. However, a final view is yet to be expressed, though interim orders have been passed in some cases granting interim bail to the accused.

In this backdrop, the bench observed :

"In view of there being diversity of views of different Benches of this Court even on the question of granting interim bail, we are of the opinion that a larger Bench may decide the question as to whether failure on the part of the prosecution to include the FSL report pertaining to the seized contraband article(s) along with the chargesheet, within the time specified in Section 167(2) of the Code read with Section 36A of the NDPS Act, would entitle the accused to default bail or not."

Advocates for Petitioners: Advocate Akshay Bhandari; Ashish Batra (AOR), Adv. Anmol Sachdeva; Adv. Megha Saroa

Hanif Ansari Vs state (Govt of NCT of Delhi) (SLP (Crl.) No(s). 15293/2023 decided on 19.03.2024

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 302

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