A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and MM Sundresh said that the 15-day custody period can be during anytime spanning over 60 or 90 days which is the time given to the investigating agency to conclude the probe.
The Court disagreed with a contrary ruling in the 1992 judgment in CBI v. Anupam J Kulkarni and, therefore, referred the issue to a larger bench.
“With due respect, we are unable to concur with the views expressed in Anupam J. Kulkarni to the effect that a police custody shall only be within the first 15 days of remand. Nowhere under Section 167(2) of the CrPC, 1973 such a stipulation is found either directly or indirectly. The words such as “time to time”, “such custody”, and “in the whole” mentioned under Section 167(2) of the CrPC have not been properly taken note of and interpreted. What is required is a simple and natural interpretation when there is no semblance of ambiguity. The intendment behind the proviso has also not been construed. Section 167(2) of the CrPC as stated, does a fine balancing act between the liberty of an individual and a proper investigation,” the Court said.
The bench added that the 1992 the decision might have perhaps been passed keeping in mind the 1898 version of the CrPC, which had limited the period of investigation to 15 days alone.
However, under the scheme of the current version of CrPC (enacted in 1973), once the period for investigation is given as 60 days or 90 days, to an investigating agency, in tune with the proviso, Section 167(2) of the CrPC by even normal interpretation facilitates a police custody spanning over the said period, subject to the period of detention not exceeding 15 days.
“It appears to us that a clear provision has not been construed correctly,” the Court said.
It was, thus, clarified that the maximum period of 15 days of police custody is meant to be applied to the entire period of investigation – 60 or 90 days.
Further, the word ‘custody’ used in Section 167(2) of the CrPC would include not only police custody but also custody of other investigating agencies as well.
“Curtailment of 15 days of police custody by any extraneous circumstances, act of God, an order of Court not being the handy work of investigating agency would not act as a restriction,” the Court added.
This is not the first instance of the top court expressing the need for reconsideration of its decision in Anupam Kulkarni.
In April, a bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar had opined that at present, the remand period can get over by the time a higher court sets aside an incorrect decision denying custody.
Source: Barandbench
