5.Mr.Raghunathan, learned Senior Counsel submitted that though, the regular bail application has been dismissed by this Court, yet, the accused will be entitled to statutory bail under Section 167(2) Cr.P.C., for the failure of Prosecution to file the Charge Sheet within time frame fixed under Section 167 Cr.P.C. One can have no two opinions on this legal issue. Default bail is an indefeasible right that accrues to the accused, on the failure of the prosecution to file the Final Report within 60/90 days as prescribed in Section 167 Cr.P.C. In this case, the accused is implicated for an offence under Section 409 IPC, for which, the maximum punishment is imprisonment for life and therefore, the statutory bail period is 90 days. The accused was first remanded on 19.04.2017 and was in custody till 28.04.2017 and thereafter, he was released on interim bail on the orders of the Sessions Court. Thereafter, the accused surrendered to custody on 17.07.2018 and now we are on 26.10.2018, thus totally, the accused is in custody for over 100 days. Admittedly, the Charge Sheet has not been filed so far. Therefore, the accused will be entitled to statutory bail under Section 167(2) Cr.P.C. and the reasoning given by the Magistrate for denying him, the benefit of statutory bail is legally unsustainable. Of course, it is always open to the Magistrate to impose appropriate conditions for the grant of statutory bail.
