MOHD ARBAZ Vs. STATE OF NCT OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners impugn a common order dated 20.08.2019, whereby their respective applications for grant of bail in default under Section 167(2) of Code of Criminal Procedure (hereafter the 'Cr.PC') were rejected.

(2.) The petitioners' claim that they are entitled to bail in default is premised on the assertion that the investigating agency has failed to file a police report under Section 173(2) of the Cr.PC within the stipulated period of one-hundred and eighty days. Although, it is not disputed that a report was filed within the stipulated period, the petitioners contend that the said report was incomplete as it was not accompanied by the report of the Chemical Examiner.

(3.) The petitioners are being prosecuted for committing an offence under Sections 21 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 2012 (hereafter the 'NDPS Act'). They claim it cannot be asserted that the substance allegedly recovered from them was a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance without a Chemical Examiner's report indicating the same. This being the foundation of the allegation against the petitioners, a police report not accompanied by a Chemical Examiner's report cannot be considered as a report under Section 173(2) of the Cr.PC. The Chemical Examiner's report was furnished before the learned Special Court on the same date when the applications filed by the petitioners were taken up for consideration. Nonetheless, the petitioners claim that they are entitled to bail in default under Section 167(2) of the Cr.PC as their respective applications seeking the same were filed prior to the Public Prosecutor placing the FSL Report before the Special Court.