Source: Supreme Court

Why in News?

Recently, the Supreme Court in the matter of Dablu Kujur v. The State of Jharkhand has held that the chargesheet should abide by all the particulars of Section 173 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC).

What was the Background of Dablu Kujur v. The State of Jharkhand Case?

• In this case, the appellant has filed an appeal before the Supreme Court.
• By way of the present appeal, the appellant has challenged the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi.
• The High Court has dismissed the said application seeking his release on bail in respect of the case registered for the offences punishable under the sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860(IPC).
• The appeal was disposed of by the Court.

What were the Court’s Observations?

• The Bench Comprising of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal observed that that the investigating officers while submitting the chargesheet do not comply with the requirements of the said provision.
• It was states that though it is true that the form of the report to be submitted under Section 173(2) of CrPC has to be prescribed by the State Government and each State Government has its own Police Manual to be followed by the police officers while discharging their duty, the mandatory requirements required to be complied with by such officers in the Chargesheet are laid down in Section 173, more particularly sub-section (2) thereof.
• It was further held that the pendency of the further investigation qua the other accused or for production of some documents not available at the time of filing of chargesheet would neither vitiate the chargesheet, nor would it entitle the accused to claim right to get default bail on the ground that the chargesheet was an incomplete chargesheet or that the chargesheet was not filed in terms of Section 173(2) of CrPC.

What is a Chargesheet?

About:

• A chargesheet, as defined under Section 173 CrPC, is the final report prepared by a police officer or investigative agency after completing their investigation of a case.
• It is submitted before the Court for initiating the criminal trial.

Chargesheet Should Contain:

• The chargesheet should contain the names of the parties, nature of the information and details of the offences.
• Whether the accused is under arrest, in custody, or has been released, whether any action was taken against him, these are all important questions answered in the chargesheet.
• The chargesheet, complete with all the documents, forms the basis for the prosecution case and for the charges to be framed.

Time Limit for Filing Chargesheet:

• A chargesheet must be filed against the accused within a prescribed period of 60-90 days, otherwise, the arrest is illegal, and the accused is entitled to bail.
• The prescribed time limit for filing charge sheet is as follows:
  • Offence triable by Magistrate: 60 days
  • Offences triable by Sessions Court: 90 days
• According to CrPC, if the charge sheet is not filed within the prescribed time mentioned above, the accused has a right to default bail.

Procedure after Filing the Chargesheet:

• After preparing the chargesheet, the officer-in-charge of the police station forwards it to a Magistrate, who is empowered to take notice of the offences mentioned in it so that the charges can be framed.

Case Law:

• In the K Veeraswami v. Union of India & Others (1991), the Supreme Court ruled that the chargesheet is a final report of the police officer under Section 173(2) of the CrPC.