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Context

Supreme Court’s direction to lower courts on default bail.

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The Supreme Court of India has directed lower courts to decide on pending default bail applications without relying on its own judgment of April 26.
In the Ritu Chhabaria versus Union of India case, the Supreme Court held that central agencies cannot deny accused persons their right to default bail by filing multiple supplementary chargesheets and seeking renewed custody.
The judgment held that “the right of default bail under Section 167(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is not merely a statutory right, but a fundamental right that flows from Article 21 of the Constitution” to protect accused persons from the “unfettered and arbitrary power of the State”.

Significance of the order:

A judgment of the Supreme Court is considered the law of the land. Article 141 of the Constitution provides that the law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within India.
After the Ritu Chhabaria judgment was delivered, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed an urgent application in the Supreme Court to “recall” the verdict.
The ED contended that the judgment contradicted past rulings of the Supreme Court. The ED also filed an appeal against the default bail granted to Manpreet Singh Talwar, an accused in a money laundering case who had relied on the Ritu Chhabaria verdict, arguing that the judgment would not apply to special laws such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The Supreme Court clarified that lower courts can decide on default bail applications independently of its judgment in the Ritu Chhabaria case.

Default Bail

Also known as statutory bail, this is a right to bail that accrues when the police fail to complete investigation within a specified period in respect of a person in judicial custody.
This is enshrined in Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure(CrPC) where it is not possible for the police to complete an investigation in 24 hours, the police produce the suspect in court and seek orders for either police or judicial custody.
This section concerns the total period up to which a person may be remanded in custody prior to filing of charge sheet.
For most offenses, the police have 60 days to complete the investigation and file a final report before the court.
However, where the offense attracts death sentence or life imprisonment, or a jail term of not less than 10 years, the period available is 90 days.
At the end of this period, if the investigation is not complete, the court shall release the person “if he is prepared to and does furnish bail”.

Principles Related To Default Bail

Right to seek 'default' bail is a fundamental right and an indefeasible part of right to personal liberty under the Constitution.
The stipulated period within which the charge sheet has to be filed begins from the day the accused is remanded for the first time.
It includes days undergone in both police and judicial custody, but not days spent in house-arrest.
A requirement for the grant of statutory bail is that the right should be claimed by the person in custody.
If the charge sheet is not filed within the stipulated period, but there is no application for bail under Section 167(2), there is no automatic bail.

Other Types of Bail

Regular Bail: It is a direction given by the Court (any Court within the country) to release a person who is already under arrest and kept in police custody. For such Bail, a person can file an application under Section 437 and 439 of the CrPC.
Anticipatory Bail: A direction issued to release a person on Bail even before the person is arrested. In this situation, there is apprehension of arrest and the person is not arrested before the Bail is granted.
Interim Bail: Bail granted for a temporary and short period by the Court till the application seeking Anticipatory Bail or Regular Bail is pending before a Court.

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