DEFAULT BAIL

Why in News?:

The Supreme Court (SC) has instructed lower courts to consider Default Bail pleas in criminal cases when the charge sheet is not filed within 60 or 90 days, allowing them to grant default bail independently without relying on its own judgment of Ritu Chhabaria versus Union of India (26^th April, 2023).

The observations were made by the SC while hearing an Enforcement Directorate (ED) appeal, seeking the recall of the Ritu Chhabaria judgment.

The Ritu Chhabaria 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”.

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