Monday, October 19, 2020

Can condition to deposit money be imposed while releasing an accused on default/statutory bail?


Read Judgment

The provision under Section 167(2) of the CrPC envisages the grant of default or statutory bail to an accused in the event that investigation is not completed and a charge-sheet filed within the prescribed time period. Bail under this provision is different from applications for regular bail under Section 437 of the Code, the Court observed.

The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah was considering a petition against the decision of the Madras High Court's Madurai Bench where an accused was directed to deposit a sum of Rs 8 lakhs as a condition for granting default bail.

Setting aside this order of the High Court, the Court noted that it is a well-established principle laid down in a catena of judgments that after the completion of the statutory period of 60 or 90 days, as the case may be, if a chargesheet is not filed against an accused then they have an “indefeasible right” to default bail.

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