Non-supply of chargesheet copy not ground for default bail, rules SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the non-supply of a copy of the chargesheet to an accused cannot be a ground for a default bail. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh said this while upholding an order of the Bombay High Court which had rejected a man's plea seeking default bail on the ground of non-supply of a chargesheet copy to him. The top court said non-filing of additional copies of the chargesheet under Section 193(8) of the BNSS would not vitiate the chargesheet itself. The apex court said that as was the case under the erstwhile CrPC, the position under BNSS is to remain that the right to default bail arises when the chargesheet is not filed within a period of 60 or 90 days, as applicable. "Once the chargesheet is filed, in compliance with the form prescribed under Section 193(3) BNSS, within the aforesaid period, the right to default bail ceases. Non-compliance with Section 193(8) of the BNSS cannot be construed to give the same result as Section 187(3) of the BNSS," it said.

Section 187(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, governs "default bail". The top court was hearing a plea filed by an accused arrested in connection with a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for an alleged large-scale cyber fraud case involving approximately Rs 3.81 crore. The CBI claimed that unknown cyber criminals are using sophisticated digital means to extort money from individuals which included using tools for impersonation and creating forged documents. Further, they are being assisted by bank officials for the deposit of the cyber fraud proceeds into their bank accounts, the CBI said.

The accused in this case had moved the Bombay High Court seeking a default bail on the ground that although the chargesheet was filed within the prescribed timeline, he was not served with a copy of the chargesheet. The apex court said the courts have rightly held that the non-filing of a copy of the chargesheet cannot become a ground for default bail and the submission of the appellant cannot be accepted.