‘Default bail if chargesheet submitted sans FSL report in 180 days in NDPS case’

Kolkata: Relying on a previous judgement of this court, the Calcutta High Court granted bail to a man in an NDPS case, observing that if chargesheet is not submitted within 180 days along with the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, the accused becomes automatically entitled to statutory/default bail upon the expiry of the period.

The Division Bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray was moved by the petitioner who was charged under Sections of the NDPS Act. He was arrested on January 31, 2024. The petitioner said he became entitled to statutory bail on the 181st day since the charge sheet that was submitted on the 177th day without the FSL report, is not a valid chargesheet. His bail prayer was rejected by the trial court.

The state’s counsel submitted that a supplementary chargesheet was later filed after obtaining the FSL report.

The bench observed that there are several decisions on similar cases by several High Courts (HC) including, Calcutta, Bombay and Jammu and Kashmir. The latter two HCs were of the view that the right of statutory bail does not accrue in favour of an accused if a charge sheet containing the particulars mentioned in Section 167(2) CrPC is filed within the stipulated time period, even if the charge sheet is not accompanied by the FSL report.

However, a Coordinate Bench of Calcutta HC in Rakesh Shah vs State of WB had observed that “filing of a chargesheet without the chemical examination report in relation to an offence under the NDPS is an exercise in futility and raises the presumption of the I.O filing a cipher only for the sake of closing the first window of the 180 days under the proviso to 36A(4) of the Act”.

Acknowledging that the decision of whether a chargesheet is valid without the FSL report in an NDPS case is pending before the Supreme Court, the Division Bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee observed: “Judicial discipline warrants that for the time being, we follow the view taken by a Coordinate Bench of our Court”.

The bench granted conditional bail to the petitioner upon a bond of Rs 25,000, directing that he shall not intimidate the witnesses and/or tamper with evidence in any manner and deposit his passport with the trial court before his release from correctional home, among other conditions.