Summary
The Supreme Court upheld refusal of default bail in this MCOCA prosecution. Before the initial 90 days expired, the prosecutor had sought an extension; that pending request had to be decided before the accused’s later default-bail application. The High Court properly corrected the trial court’s treatment of the request as infructuous, considered its merits and extended time to the date the charge sheet was filed. No accrued default-bail entitlement arose on those facts. Regular bail remained open on merits.
Issues
- Whether default bail accrued while a timely prosecutor’s extension request remained undecided and custody continued under court orders.
- Whether the High Court could itself decide the wrongly closed extension request.
Held
- The prosecutor sought extension on 28 February 2017 before expiry of the initial 90 days. The first bail application was premature; the later 2 March application was filed while the extension request remained pending. Under the Sanjay Dutt principle applied, the court had to determine that request first, and default bail in this situation depended on its rejection. (¶¶ 21, 22, 23, 24)
- This was not a case in which an already accrued and invoked right was defeated merely by later filing a charge sheet. Uday Mohanlal Acharya and Nirala Yadav were distinguished because of the timely pre-expiry extension request here. The Court’s conclusion was tied to that sequence and the competent court’s continuing custody orders. (¶¶ 25, 26, 27, 28)
- The trial court erred in closing the extension request as infructuous after filing of the charge sheet. Rather than remand and cause further delay, the High Court heard both sides, found tangible reasons for extension and expressly extended time until 8 March 2017, when the charge sheet was filed. The Supreme Court upheld that course. (¶¶ 25, 27, 28)
- Rejection of statutory bail did not preclude the appellant from seeking regular bail. That remedy remained available for independent decision on its own merits in accordance with law. (¶¶ 29, 30)
Result
Appeals dismissed; refusal of default bail upheld. Appellant free to seek regular bail on merits.