The Court was hearing a batch of appeals arising from a November 2020 decision of the Delhi High Court which had refused to grant bail to three persons booked under Sections 21 and 29 NDPS Act for allegedly carrying around 20 kg of contraband.
Before the High Court, the accused submitted that the report (chargesheet) filed by the investigating agency under Section 173, CrPC did not contain a report of the chemical examiner who had tested the alleged contraband.
Therefore, the accused contended that the chargesheet was incomplete and that they were entitled for default bail (bail granted for a failure to submit the chargesheet within the prescribed time) under Section 167, CrPC.
A trial court had earlier refused to accept the contention that the report was incomplete in absence of the examiner’s report while rejecting the default bail plea.
The High Court set aside the finding of the trial court on the limited aspect of whether a final report was incomplete without an examiner’s report. However, it upheld rejection of the default bail plea after finding that the final report (chargesheet) had been filed within time.
Aggrieved by rejection of their bail plea, the accused persons approached the apex court for relief.
In December 2021, the top court granted interim bail to the accused persons, considering the period of jail time already undergone. This interim bail was extended from time to time by the Court, including on July 18.
Source: Barandbench
