Default bail computation favoured the accused where the remand date was included in the statutory custody period.

Default bail under Section 167(2) CrPC was treated as available where the accused had completed the statutory custody period by including the day of remand. Facing conflicting views on whether that day must be counted, and noting the issue had been referred by the Supreme Court to a larger Bench, the HC applied the interpretation beneficial to the accused in the absence of a final authoritative ruling. The complaint filed on the same day did not defeat the bail claim, and the petitioner was granted conditional release on bail.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to default bail under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and whether the day of remand had to be included while computing the 60-day period for filing the complaint.

Analysis: The petitioner was remanded on 29.09.2021 and applied for default bail on 28.11.2021 after completion of the custody period calculated by including the date of remand. The complaint was filed on the same day, after the bail application had been allowed but before release. There was a conflict of views on whether the day of remand should be counted for computing the statutory period, and the issue had already been referred by the Supreme Court to a larger Bench. In the absence of an authoritative final pronouncement and in view of the settled approach that an interpretation beneficial to the accused should be preferred, the Court accepted the claim for bail.

Conclusion: The petitioner was held entitled to conditional release on bail, and the order setting aside default bail was set aside.

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