9911796707
TMI Blog2020 (12) TMI 1292X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... overed from his possession. 3.2. On 02-03-2020, the petitioner was produced before the judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Moreh with a prayer for police custody and the Hon'ble Court was pleased to remand him into police custody till 06-03-2020. Thereafter, on 06-03-2020, he was again produced before the Hon'ble Court with a prayer for Judicial custody, to which the Hon'ble Court was pleased to remand him into Judicial custody. 3.3. On the statutory period of 180 days having lapsed, the petitioner approached the Special Court (ND&PS), Manipur seeking for grant of bail under Section 167 (2) of the Cr.P.C. and the Hon'ble Court was pleased to release him on bail subject to his furnishing PR Bond of Rs. 5,00,000/- with two sureties of like amount who shall be Gazetted officers. It has been further directed by the Court that the petitioner also shall deposit a sum of Rs. 2,00,000/- to the Court refundable after disposal of the trial. 4. Being aggrieved by the said order of the Special Judge, ND & PS, Manipur, the instant petition has been filed on the inter-alia grounds that the petitioner is a poor farmer and is living on daily wage basis; that the conditions imposed by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... easing the appellant on default bail/statutory bail. It appears that the High Court has imposed such condition taking into a consideration the fact that earlier at the time of hearing of the regular bail application, before the learned Magistrate, the wife of the appellant filed an affidavit agreeing to deposit Rs. 7,00,000/-. However, as observed by this Court in catena of decisions and more particularly in the case of Rakesh Kumar Paul (supra), where the investigation is not completed within 60 days or 90 days, as the case may be, and no chargesheet is filed by 60th or 90th day, accused gets an "indefeasible right" to default bail, and the accused becomes entitled to default bail once the accused applies for default bail and furnish bail. Therefore, the only requirement for getting the default bail/statutory bail under Section 167(2), Cr.P.C. is that the accused is in jail for more than 60 or 90 days, as the case may be, and within 60 or 90 days, as the case may be, the investigation is not completed and no chargesheet is filed by 60th or 90th day and the accused applies for default bail and is prepared to furnish bail. No other condition of deposit of the alleged amount involved ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sed person forwarded to him under that Section. The clear reference to the power of the Magistrate under Section 167 CrPC, particularly sub-section (2) thereof, is an indication that no part of sub-section (2) of Section 167 of the Code is inapplicable in such a case unless there be any specific provision to the contrary in the NDPS Act. This conclusion is reinforced by some other provisions of the NDPS Act. Section 36-C says that "save as otherwise provided in this Act, the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) (including the provisions as to bail and bonds) shall apply to the proceedings before a Special Court." This also indicates that the provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to bail and bonds are applicable to the proceedings before a Special Court under the NDPS Act "save as otherwise provided in this Act." Section 51 also says that the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 shall apply, insofar as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, to all warrants issued and arrests, searches and seizures made under this Act. Except for Section 37 of the N.D.P.S. Act, no other provision of the NDPS Act is relied on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... are not before the court to determine the existence of reasonable grounds for forming the belief about the guilt of the accused. The learned Additional Solicitor General submitted that this belief can be formed during investigation by reference to the contents of the case diary even before the charge-sheet has been filed. This is fallacious. Till the complaint is filed the accused is supplied no material from which he can discharge the burden placed on him by Section 37(l)(b) of the NDPS Act. In our opinion, such a construction of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 37 is not permissible. 11. Sub-section (3) of Section 36-A provides that the special powers of the High Court regarding bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shall not be affected by anything contained in Section 36-A of the NDPS Act. Sub-section (2) of Section 167 CrPC has been expressly applied by Section 36-A of the Act and the scheme of the Act is that the provisions of the Code would apply except where there is any inconsistent provision in this Act in relation to arrests made under this Act. It is this context in which Section 37(l)(b) has to be construed wherein are specified the l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
