The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail petition of ten accused in a case relating to the murder of two Youth Congress workers, Kripesh and P.K. Sarath Lal, at Periye in Kasaragod.
In their petition, A. Peethambaran, former CPI(M) leader, and nine other accused, contended that they were entitled to be released on ‘compulsive bail’ as the chargesheet filed against them by the investigating officer before the expiry period of 90 days had been quashed by a single judge.
The chargesheet was quashed while ordering a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Verdict reserved
Senior public prosecutor Suman Chakravarthy observed that the State had filed an appeal against the single judge’s judgment and a Division Bench reserved its verdict.
He also submitted that once the chargesheet had been filed before the court concerned before the expiry of the deadline for filing the same under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the right of the accused to get bail stood extinguished.
Dismissing the bail petition, Justice Narayana Pisharadi observed that once the chargesheet was filed within the statutory period, the right of the accused for default bail had been negated. Besides, such a right did not get revived merely for the reason that the court had set aside or quashed the chargesheet. The single judge’s judgment had not become final.
Finality of judgment
The Division Bench was yet to pronounce the judgment in the appeal. Before the judgment of the single judge attained finality it could not be said that the chargesheet filed against the accused had permanently gone or vanished.
