Stick to schedule: Gauhati High Court tells DGP on charge-sheet delay

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Courts have to grant bail to an accused when the police fail to file charge sheets on time. The High Court has asked the State DGP (Director General of Police) and the Secretary of the Home Department to take measures to ensure the timely filing of charge sheets.

The High Court had to grant 'default bail' to an accused, Machanur Ali, arrested under the NDPS Act, as the police could not file the charge sheet within the stipulated time. The police arrested Ali on December 21, 2021, in a case (829/2021) registered in Gorchuk Police Station in Guwahati.

The bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi observed that "in many of bail petitions, including those under very serious offences like the NDPS Act, POCSO, Section 302/376 of IPC etc., the charge-sheet is not filed within the prescribed time for which the court has no other option to give the benefit of default bail. Though such bail is a matter of right, what is painful is that in most of the cases, there is no reason as to why the charge sheets could not be filed within the prescribed time."

Against such a backdrop, the High Court asked the DGP and the Secretary of the Home Department to direct the police to strictly follow the schedule and submit the charge sheet within the prescribed period.

Police get 90 days to file the charge sheet against an accused from the date of FIR. If they (police) fail to file the charge sheet within the stipulated time, an accused can apply for default bail. The court grants default bail on the failure of the police or investigating agency to file report/complaint within a specific prescribed period of time.

Talking to The Sentinel, a senior police official said, "The major hurdle is that the police stations do not have separate investigation wings. An investigating officer attends both investigation and law-and-order duties due to inadequate manpower. Most of the police stations in the state continue to investigate cases in the traditional method. The process will be slow till they adopt scientific ways to collect evidence. Most police stations do not prioritize cases based on the nature of crimes. Cybercrimes becoming the order of the day, the need of the hour is separate investigation wings in the police stations.

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