TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (2) TMI 403
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....os. 1 and 2 in Writ Petition (Criminal) Nos. 3842 of 2018 and 3843 of 2018. The order of the High Court was set aside by this Court on 27.03.2019, following which Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 surrendered on 01.04.2019. Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 were remanded to 14 days' judicial custody on 05.04.2019. On account of continuation of the investigation, the Special Court, Gurugram extended the judicial custody of Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to 16.05.2019. In the meanwhile, Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 filed regular bail applications for being released on bail before the High Court on 03.05.2019. The applications were directed to be listed on 21.05.2019 by the High Court. The High Court further directed the trial court to consider any application that may be filed by Respondent Nos.1 and 2 under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ("CrPC"), in the meanwhile. On 16.05.2019, the Special Court extended the judicial custody of Respondent Nos.1 and 2 till 30.05.2019. 3. Criminal complaint under Section 439(2) read with Section 212(15) of the Companies Act, 2013 was filed before the Special Court, Gurugram on 18.05.2019. The Special Court directed registration of the complaint and listed t....
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....nce was not taken before the expiry of the 60-day period. Placing reliance on a judgment of this Court in Sanjay Dutt v. State (1994) 5 SCC 410, Mr. Chaudhri argued that the maximum period of detention that the accused can be remanded to under Section 167, CrPC is 60 days, beyond which detention can be extended only if the accused is unable to furnish bail. He submitted that this Court in Mohamed Iqbal Madar Sheikh & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra (1996) 1 SCC 722 explained the judgment in Sanjay Dutt (supra) and held that the right under Section 167(2), CrPC cannot be exercised after the charge-sheet has been submitted and cognizance has been taken. It was further argued that an accused has a right to seek statutory bail under the proviso to Section 167(2) even after the chargesheet is filed, till the court takes cognizance. 6. An application for intervention was filed by Rahul Kothari. The Intervenor filed an application for statutory bail which was rejected by the trial court and upheld by the High Court. Special Leave Petition (Criminal) Diary No. 12089 of 2021 filed by him is pending consideration of this Court. As the issue raised for consideration in the said special leave ....
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....ail were dismissed by the Special Court on 22.05.2019, on the ground that the charge-sheet was filed before the expiry of 60 days. Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 did not argue before the Special Court that they were entitled for statutory bail, even after filing of the charge-sheet before the expiry of the 60-day period, as cognizance had not been taken. The trial court disposed of the applications for statutory bail, on being so directed by an order dated 10.05.2019 passed by the High Court in regular bail applications filed by Respondent Nos. 1 and 2. The said regular bail applications were taken up for hearing by the High Court and by the impugned order, bail was granted to Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 on the ground that cognizance had not been taken by the court before the expiry of 60 days. However, while doing so, the High Court failed to consider the order dated 22.05.2019 passed by the trial court dismissing the applications seeking statutory bail. 8. The only point that arises for our consideration in this case is whether an accused is entitled for statutory bail under Section 167(2), CrPC on the ground that cognizance has not been taken before the expiry of 60 days or 90 days, as ....
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....ragraph (a), the accused shall be detained in custody so long as he does not furnish bail. Explanation II.- If any question arises whether an accused person was produced before the Magistrate as required under clause (b), the production of the accused person may be proved by his signature on the order authorising detention or by the order certified by the Magistrate as to production of the accused person through the medium of electronic video linkage, as the case may be. 9. The issue is squarely covered by a judgment of this Court in Bhikamchand Jain (supra), as contended by the Appellant. It is necessary to closely examine the judgment passed in Bhikamchand Jain (supra). The petitioner in the said case was arrested on 11.03.2012 on the allegation of misappropriation of amounts meant for development of slums in Jalgaon City. The petitioner therein was accused of committing offences punishable under Sections 120-B, 409, 411, 406, 408, 465, 466, 468, 471, 177 and 109 read with Section 34, IPC and also under Sections 13(1)(c), 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The contention of the petitioner therein was that he could not have been remanded to c....
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....kamchand Jain (supra) that filing of a charge-sheet is sufficient compliance with the provisions of Section 167, CrPC and that an accused cannot demand release on default bail under Section 167(2) on the ground that cognizance has not been taken before the expiry of 60 days. The accused continues to be in the custody of the Magistrate till such time cognizance is taken by the court trying the offence, which assumes custody of the accused for the purpose of remand after cognizance is taken. The conclusion of the High Court that the accused cannot be remanded beyond the period of 60 days under Section 167 and that further remand could only be at the post-cognizance stage, is not correct in view of the judgment of this Court in Bhikamchand Jain (supra). 11. The point that requires to be considered is whether this Court has taken a different view in Sanjay Dutt (supra), Madar Sheikh (supra) and M. Ravindran (supra). In Sanjay Dutt (supra), this Court held that the indefeasible right accruing to the accused is enforceable only prior to the filing of challan and it does not survive or remain enforceable, on the challan being filed. It was made clear that once the challan has been file....
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....e-sheet had not been filed within the statutory period. The trial court granted bail under Section 167(2), which was set aside by the High Court of Madras by judgment dated 21.11.2019. Challenging the said judgment of the High Court, the appellant approached this Court. The crucial fact in the said case is that the appellant therein filed an application on 01.02.2019 at 10.30 a.m. before the trial court and on the same day at 4.25 p.m., an additional complaint was filed against the appellant, on the basis of which dismissal of the bail application was sought. This Court restored the order of the trial court while setting aside the judgment of the High Court, by holding that the accused is deemed to have "availed of" or enforced his right to be released on default bail, once application for bail has been filed under Section 167(2) on expiry of the stipulated time period. Taking into account the fact that before the expiry of 180 days, no charge-sheet had been submitted nor any application filed seeking extension of time to investigate, this Court held that the appellant was entitled to be released on statutory bail notwithstanding the subsequent filing of an additional complaint. Th....