'Ritu Chhabria' judgment

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Supreme Court asks all courts to defer applications for default bail based on 'Ritu Chhabria' judgment ============================== The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to set up a three-judge bench on May 4 to consider the Centre's plea seeking recall of the recent verdict of a two-judge bench of the apex court in Ritu Chhabria vs Union of India and others. The court also ordered that any application filed before any court seeking default bail on the basis of the Chhabria judgment should be deferred to a date after May 4.      In the Ritu Chhabria case, a bench of Justices Krishna Murari and C T Ravikumar had said that an incomplete charge sheet filed by the investigating agency without completing the investigation would not defeat the right to default bail of the accused.     Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala, referred to the difficulties faced by central agencies due to the said decision. Last week, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju had told another bench that the Central government was considering filing a review petition on the Chhabria verdict.     Mehta argued that various judgments of larger benches of the Supreme Court have clearly stated that it is the duty of an investigating agency to file a charge sheet within 90 days or 60 days, as the case may be. The SG said the agencies have the right to seek further investigation under Section 173(8) of the CrPC.     Every investigation cannot be completed within 60 or 90 days. The Chief Justice informed the Solicitor General that the verdict was pronounced today itself, where the bench also elaborated on the Chhabria issue. He was referring to Jasbir and others vs National Investigation Agency and others, in which the court had held that an accused person would not be entitled to default bail on the ground that the charge sheet filed against him was without the approval of the lawful authority and hence it was treated as an incomplete charge sheet.    The Chief Justice verbally remarked that the SG could refer to the first judgment. Justice J B Pardiwala further said, In our judgment, we said that sanction cannot be part of the charge sheet. The investigating agency has nothing to do with the sanction. Once the investigation is complete, once the charge sheet is filed, the court will not be in a position to take cognizance.     It is not so.     This means that the charge sheet is incomplete. Look, my investigation is going on, I reserve the liberty to file a supplementary charge sheet. The Solicitor General said the Chhabria case makes an absolute proposition that if a charge sheet has been filed without completing the investigation, the accused will be entitled to default bail.     Applications for default bail based on this decision have already been received before various courts in the country, the SG requested. You can reconsider it in a three-judge bench. The CJI rejected the request, saying the court cannot pass an order that its decision should not be trusted.     However, in the order, the bench made it clear that on the basis of the said judgment, the applications for default bail should be deferred.     List it before a three-judge bench on Thursday, the order said. Meanwhile, if any other application has been filed before any other court, based on the decision of which withdrawal has been sought, they may be adjourned to a date beyond Thursday at present.     Case Title: Enforcement Directorate vs Manpreet Singh Special Leave Petition (Criminal) Dairy No (s) 18272/2023