RAVI PRAKASH SINGH @ARVIND SINGHversusSTATE OF BIHAR

                     [2015] 2 S.C.R. 241


         RAVI PRAKASH SINGH @ARVIND SINGH                           A
                            v.
                     STATE OF BIHAR
             (Criminal Appeal No. 325 of2015)
                   FEBRUARY 20, 2015
                                                                    B
      [DIPAK MISRA AND PRAFULLA C. PANT, JJ.]
      Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - s. 167(2) - Bail -
Refusal to accused, when - Appellant surrendered before
the Magistrate on 5. 7.2013 -Application filed on 03.10.13
for release on bail u/s. 167(2) proviso, on the ground that the     C
charge sheet was not filed- However, on 03.10.2013 itself,
endorsement in the order sheet by the Magistrate that the
charge sheet has already been received - Rejection of bail
application by the Magistrate as also the Sessions Judge -
Petition u/s. 482 Cr.PC. seeking quashing of the order passed       D
by the Sessions .Judge and the Magistrate - Dismissed by
the High Court - On appeal, held: High Court justified in
dismissing the petition u/s. 482, and upholding the refusal of
bail to appellant - While computing period of ninety days,          E
the day on which the accused was remanded to the judicial
custody should be excluded, and the day on which cha/Ian
is fikJd in the court, should be included - Date 05. 07. 13 is to
be excluded and, as such, the charge sheet was filed on
ninethieth day, i.e., 03.10.13 - Thus, no infringement of s.        F
167(2) of the Code.

    Dismissing the appeal, the Court

    HELD: While computing period of ninety days, the
day on which the accused was remanded to the judicial               G
custody should be exclud~d, and the day on which
challan is filed in the court, should be included. In the
instant case, date 05.07 .13 is to be excluded and, as such,

                              241                                   H
242        SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [2015] 2 S.C.R.



A  the charge sheet was filed on ninethieth day, i.e., 03.10.13.
   Therefore, there is no infringement of section 167(2) of
   the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The High Court
   did not err in law in dismissing the petition u/s. 482 of
   the Code, and upholding the refusal of bail to appellant
 B prayed by him u/s. 167(2) of the Code. [Para 12, 13)
   [248-C-D]

          State of M.P v Rustam and Ors. 1995 Supp (3) SCC
      221 - relied on.
 c     Powell Nwawa Ogechi v The State (Delhi Administration)
   1986 (3) Crimes 577; State of Maharashtra v Sharan B.
   Sarda; N. Nureya Reddy 1983 (2) Crimes 254; N. Nureya
   Reddy and Anr. v. State of Orissa 1985 CRLJ 939 (Orissa);
   Chaganti Satyanarayana and others v. State of Andhra
 D Pradesh (1986) 3 SCC 141: 1986 (2) SCR 1128 - referred
   to.

                        Case Law Reference

 E        1986 (3) Crimes 577          Referred to.   Para 9
          1983 (2) Crimes 254          Referred to.   Para 9
          1985 CRLJ 939 (Orissa)       Referred to.   Para 10
          1986 (2) SCR 1128            Referred to.   Para 11
 F
          1995 Supp (3) sec 221        Relied on.     Para 12

         CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal
      Appeal No. 325 of 2015

 G        From the Judgment and Order dated 24.12.2013 of the
      High Court of Judicature at Patna in Criminal Miscellaneous
      No. 48019 of 2013

      Nagendra Rai, Smarhar Singh, Prerna Singh, Aakash
 H Kumar, Shantanu Sagar for the Appellant.
        RAVI PRAKASH SINGH@ARVIND SINGH                       243
                 v. STATE OF BIHAR

   Gopal Singh, Manish Kumar, Roshni Srivastava for the           A
Respondent.

    The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

    PRAFULLA C. PANT, J. 1. This appeal is directed
against the judgment and order dated 24.12.2013 passed by B
the High Court of Judicature at Patna in Criminal Miscellaneous
No. 48019 of 2013 whereby said Court has dismissed the
petition under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code,
1973 (for short "the Code") and declined to interfere with the
order dated 22.10.2013, passed by Sessions Judge, In- C
charge, Kaimur at Bhabua in Bail Petition No. 542 of 2013,
and upheld the refusal to release the appellant on bail under
Section 167(2) of the Code.

    2. Brieffacts of the case are that appellant Ravi Prakash D
Singh @ Arvind Singh surrendered before Chief Judicial
Magistrate, Kaimuron 5.7.2013 in connection with Crime No.
89 of 2013, registered at Police Station, Chainpur, relating to
offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34
and Section 1208 of the Indian Penal Code and under Section       E
27 of Arms Act. He was remanded to judicial custody till
19.7.2013. His remand was extended under Section 167 of
the Code from time to time, and the last remand under said
provision was granted till 3.10.2013. On 3.10.2013, the
appellant moved an application under Section 167(2) of the        F
Code for his release on the ground that the charge sheet has
not been filed. On the same day, i.e., 3.10.2013, it was
endorsed in the order sheet by the Chief Judicial Magistrate
that as per report of the clerk of the Court, charge sheet has
already been received, as such, the bail application moved
under Section 167(2) of the Code was rejected by the              G
Magistrate on the very day and further remand order was
passed under Section 209 of the Code. Endorsement "seen"
was also made by the Magistrate on 3.10.2013 on the charge-
sheet.
                                                                  H
244         SUPREME COURT REPORTS                    [2015) 2 S.C.R.


A      3. On 22.10.2013, the case was committed to the Court
  of Sessions Judge. The applicant moved bail application No.
  542 of 2013 before the Sessions Judge, Kaimur at Bhabua
  seeking bail on the ground that he was entitled to be released
  on bail under Section 167(2) of the Code. He further pleaded
B that the Chief Judicial Magistrate has erred in law in rejecting
  his bail application on said ground. However, the In-charge
  Sessions Judge, who disposed of the above bail application,
  also opined that since the charge sheet had already been
  submitted, as such, the appellant was not entitled to bail on
C the ground that charge-sheet was not received within time.
           4. On this, appellant Ravi Prakash Singh @Arvind Singh
      appears to have moved a petition under Section 482 of the
      Code before the High Court of Judicature at Patna, praying
 o    that order passed by the Sessions Judge, as above, and the
      one passed by the Magistrate be quashed. But the High Court
      also took the view that since the charge sheet had already
      been filed within the period of ninety days, as such, it did not
      find any error in the orders passed by the courts below.
 E        5. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and
      perused the original record of the case.
          6. Sub-section (2) of Section 167 of the Code reads as
      under: -
 F
          "167(2) The Magistrate to whom an accused person
          is forwarded under this section may, whether he has
          or not jurisdiction to try the case, from time to time,
          authorise the detention of the accused in such custody
 G        as such Magistrate thinks fit, for a term not exceeding
          fifteen days in the whole; and if he has no jurisdiction
          to try the case or commit it for trial, and considers
          further detention unnecessary, he may order the
          accused to be forwarded to a Magistrate having such
 H        jurisdiction:
    RAVI PRAKASH SINGH@ARVIND SINGH                            245
  v. STATE OF BIHAR [PRAFULLAC. PANT, J.]

Provided that-                                                  A
(a) The Magistrate may authorize the detention of the
    accused person, otherwise than in the custody of the
    police, beyond the period of fifteen days, if he is
    satisfied that adequate grounds exist for doing so,
    but no Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the      B
    accused person in custody under this paragraph for
    a total period exceeding-

    (i) Ninety days, where the investigation relates to an
        offence punishable with death, imprisonment for         C
        life or imprisonment for a term of not less than ten
        years;

    (ii) Sixty days, where the investigation relates to any
         other offence, and, on the expiry of the said period
         of ninety days, or sixty days, as the case may be, D
         the accused person shall be released on bail if he
         is prepared to and does furnish bail, and every
         person released on bail under this sub-section
         shall be deemed to be so released under the
         provisions of Chapter XXXlll for the purposes of E
         that Chapter;

(b) No Magistrate shall authorize detention of the
    accused in custody by the police under this section
    unless the accused is produced before him in person
    for the first time and subsequently every time till the     F
    accused remair:is in the custody of the police, but the
    Magistrate may extend further detention in judicial
    custody on production of the accused either in person
    or through the medium of electronic video linkage;
                                                                G
(c) No Magistrate of the second class, not specially
    empowered in this behalf by the high Court, shall
    authorize detention in the custody of the police.

    Explanation I. - For the avoidance of doubts, it is
    hereby declared that, notwithstanding the expiry of the     H
246       SUPREME COURT REPORTS                     [2015] 2 S.C.R.



A            period specified in paragraph (a), the accused shall
             be detained in Custody so long as he does not furnish
             bail.

             Explanation II. - If any question arises whether an
             accused person was produced before the Magistrate
 B
             as required under clause (b), the production of the
             accused person may be proved by his signature on
             the order authorizing detention or by the order certified
             by the Magistrate as to production of the accused
 c           person through the medium of electronic video
             linkage, as the case may be.

             Provided further that in case of a woman under
             eighteen years of age, the detention shall be
             authorized to be in custody of a remand home or
 D           recognized social institution."

        Above Proviso (a) to sub-section (2) of Section 167 of
   the Code provides that the Magistrate shall not authorize
   detention of an accused in custody in which the investigation
 E relating to offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life
   or imprisonment for a term not less than ten years and if the
   investigation not completed within ninety days, the accused
   shall be entitled to be released on bail.

 F      7. Admittedly, the appellant surrendered before the
   Magistrate on 5.7.2013. It is also not disputed that on 3.10.2013
   the appellant moved an application for his release on bail under
   proviso (a) to sub-section (2) of Section 167 of the Code.
   However, the order sheet of the case shows that there is
 G endorsement of the Magistrate on 3.10.2013 that the charge
   sheet has already been received.

       8. The charge sheet against the appellant, in the original
   record, shows that the Investigating Officer signed it and
   submitted the same on 30.9.2013. Though the clerk concerned
 H has not made any endorsement as to when actually the charge
           RAVI PRAKASH SINGH@ARVIND SINGH                   247
         v. STATE OF BIHAR [PRAFULLAC. PANT, J.]

sheet was received, but there is endorsement of the Chief A
Judicial Magistrate which shows that he has mentioned "seen"
on 3.10.2013 and signed at the top of the first page of the
charge sheet. Order sheet of the court of the Magistrate also
corroborates that on 3.10.2013 the clerk concerned reported
to Chief Judicial Magistrate that the charge sheet had already B
been received.

     9. It is argued on behalf of the learned senior counsel
for the appellant that the appellant should have been given
benefit of Section 167(2) of the Code. According to him, it      c
was 91 st day of detention on 3.10.2013. It is further contended
by Mr. Nagendra Rai, learned senior counsel, that even Sunday
or holiday on ninetieth day cannot deprive the benefit of proviso
(a) to sub-section (2) of Section 167 of the Code. In support of
his arguments he relied upon cases of Powell Nwawa Ogechi D
v. The State (Delhi Administration)1 and State of
Maharashtra v. Sharan B. Sarda 2. In Sharan B. Sarda
(supra) single Judge of Bombay High Court, and in Powel
Nwawa Ogechi (supra) the Division Bench of Delhi High Court
took the view that even if last day for filing charge sheet is   E
holiday, the accused cannot be deprived of benefit of Section
167(2) of the Code.

     10. Contrary to this, in N. Nureya Reddy and another
v. State of0rissa3, the Division Bench of Orissa High Court, F
interpreting the provisions of Section 167(2) of the Code read
with Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, held that if ninetieth
day is a holiday, filing of charge sheet on the next day should
be treated sufficient compliance of filing of charge sheet within
a period of ninety days and it cannot be said that provision G
contained in Section 167(2) of the Code is infringed.


1
    1986 (3) Crimes 577
2 1983 (2) Crimes 254 (Short Note)
3
    1985 CRLJ 939 (Orissa)                                       H
248          SUPREME COURT REPORTS                   [2015] 2 S.C.R.


A      11. In Chaganti Satyanarayana and others v. State
  ofAndhra Pradesh', it has been held by this Court that period
  of ninety days under Section 167(2) of the Code shall be
  computed from the date of remand of the accused and not
  from the date of his arrest under Section 57 of the Code.
B However, in the present case, we have to see the relevant date
  as the date when the accused surrendered and remanded by
  the court.
           12. In State of M.P. v. Rustam and others 5 , this Court
c     has laid down the law that while computing period of ninety
      days, the day on which the accused was remanded to the
      judicial custody should be excluded, and the day on which
      challan is filed in the court, should be included. That being so,
      in our opinion, in the present case, date 5.7.2013 is to be
 o    excluded and, as such, the charge sheet was filed on ninetieth
      day, i.e., 3.10.2013. Therefore, there is no infringement of
      Section 167(2) of the Code.
        13. For the reasons, as discussed above, in our opinion,
 E the High Court has not erred in law in dismissing the petition
   under Section 482 of the Code, and upholding the refusal of
   bail to appellant prayed by him under Section 167(2) of the
   Code.
       Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed. Lower court record
 F be sent back forthwith.

      Nidhi Jain                                      Appeal dismissed.




      • (1986) 3   sec141
      s 1995 Supp (3)    sec 221