Default bail not an option in drug cases: Calcutta HC
Kolkata: An accused in an NDPS (drug) case is not entitled to default bail if a charge sheet, even without a chemical report, is filed within time, the Calcutta High Court ruled while cancelling the interim bail granted to the accused.The legal point on whether the charge sheet without a chemical report in the NDPS case entitles the accused to statutory bail is pending before the Supreme Court.
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However, the division bench of justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi held that, as of today, the law is that a charge sheet is complete if the materials and evidence are before the court along with the charge sheet for the court to take cognisance. Filing a supplementary charge sheet to bring on the record the forensic laboratory test report is also permissible."Bombay and Guwahati HCs have held that a charge sheet without the chemical examination report does not entitle the accused to default bail. On the strength of the authorities presently subsisting, we are not in a position to return a finding that the charge sheet without the chemical examination report makes the investigation incomplete," the HC held. The four accused had applied for bail on March 26. The police had filed a charge sheet, and subsequently a supplementary charge sheet along with a chemical report. A commercial quantity of brown sugar was seized from the accused.
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