Published on: 16 July 2023 at 13:10 IST
Court: Supreme Court
Citation: Siddharth V. State of U.P. (2022)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that it is not essential in every case involving a cognizable and non-bailable offence that an accused be taken into custody when the charge-sheet/final report is filed. It is held that the criminal courts cannot refuse to accept a charge-sheet simply because the accused has not been arrested and produced before the court.
9. We are in agreement with the aforesaid view of the High Courts and would like to give our imprimatur to the said judicial view. It has rightly been observed on consideration of Section 170 CrPC that it does not impose an obligation on the officer-in-charge to arrest each and every accused at the time of filing of the charge-sheet. We have, in fact, come across cases where the accused has cooperated with the investigation throughout and yet on the charge-sheet being filed non-bailable warrants have been issued for his production premised on the requirement that there is an obligation to arrest the accused and produce him before the court. We are of the view that if the investigating officer does not believe that the accused will abscond or disobey summons he/she is not required to be produced in custody.
The word “custody” appearing in Section 170 CrPC does not contemplate either police or judicial custody but it merely connotes the presentation of the accused by the investigating officer before the court while filing the charge-sheet.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra