- In Rohtash @ Raju vs State of Haryana the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana HC has observed that in case of offences which come under the NDPS Act, the FSL Report goes to the root cause of the case, and hence a chargesheet which is filed without the same cannot be said to be complete.
- It is important to note that the Karnataka HC, in its order dated the 29-03-2022, in the case of Mr. Sayyad Mohammad @ Nasim vs State of Karnataka had observed that the non-filing of the FSL Report by itself would not make the chargesheet contrary to section 173(2) of the CrPC, and would not be a ground for default bail under section 167(2) of CrPC.
- The petitioner, in the instant case, was arrested and presented before the Court on 23-9-2021. The challan was presented against him on 17-3-2022. However, the same was without FSL Report, and thus, the petitioner contended that the challan was incomplete and he was entitled to default bail.
- It was also contended that no application under section 36A(4) by the public prosecutor seeking the extension of time to complete the investigation in the case at hand.
- The Counsel for the State, on the other hand, argued that the challan along with an application under section 36A(4) of the NDPS Act and the request for seeking extension of time was accepted by the Trial Court and thus, the bail application moved by the petitioner under section 167(2) of CrPC was dismissed.
- It was also argued that even though the charge sheet was filed without the FSL Report, the same cannot be treated as being incomplete.
- The Hon’ble HC observed that an application under section 36A(4) of the NDPS Act should be accompanied by a report of the Public Prosecutor which would indicate the progress of the investigation in the matter and further mention the reasons for seeking the detention of the accused beyond the period of 180 days. This was not done in the instant case, and hence the order passed by the Trial Court was not sustainable.
- The Court relied upon the decision of the Apex Court in Muhammad Arbaz and ors vs State of NCT of Delhi, and the decisions of the Court in Jagvinder Singh vs State of Haryana and Ajaib Singh vs State of Haryana and held that the FSL report goes to the root of the case and is a material document. The filing of Challan without the same cannot be treated as a complete challan. The Apex Court in Muhammad Arbaz’s case granted relief to the accused under similar circumstances.
- Thus, the petition was allowed, and the Court concluded that the order rejecting the application for default bail is liable to be set aside. The petitioner was, thus, released on bail.
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