What is Default Bail that gave relief to Sudha Bhardwaj?

Ground Report | New Delhi: What is Default Bail; The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted default bail to advocate-activist Sudha Bharadwaj, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, but rejected the petitions of eight others who had applied for bail on the same grounds.

Sudha Bhardwaj case

A bench of Justices S S Shinde and N J Jamadar directed that Bharadwaj, who is lodged in Byculla Women's Jail in Mumbai, be produced before a special NIA court here on December 8 to decide the conditions of his bail and the date of his release. to be done.

Ms. Bhardwaj was detained by the Pune Police on October 27, 2018. He was posted as Additional Sessions Judge, Pune, K.D. was presented before. Vadane sent her to 10-day police custody. On November 22, the Public Prosecutor filed a report seeking an extension of the investigation period.

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On November 26, he filed for bail under the Code of Criminal Procedure, as the period of 90 days from the date of his arrest and production before a magistrate has expired. Judge Vadane, however, extended the period of detention by 90 days.

Eventually, the charge sheet was filed and on February 21, 2019. Judge Wadane took cognizance of the offense and issued proceedings against Ms. Bhardwaj. Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Pandey and S.R. Nawandar also rejected the default bail of all the accused.

The bench had earlier observed that the HC's records were in line with Bhardwaj's RTI documents, which showed that Pune Judge KD Vadane Judge was not notified as a special court under the NIA Act, as per LiveLaw.

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Advocate Yug Choudhary, assisted by Advocate Payoshi Roy, argued that since Bharadwaj and his co-accused were booked for offenses under UAPA, which is a 'scheduled offence' under the NIA Act, their case is a special one. Should have been before the court and not Judge Vadane.

What is Default Bail

A 'default bail' is an accused's right to seek his liberty when the police or a particular agency probing a crime fails to file a charge sheet within a legally mandated time frame. . This bail is not on the merits of the case.

As per law, once the maximum period from arrest, i.e. 60, 90 and 180 days, has been provided for investigation in a case and no charge sheet is filed, the accused becomes entitled to be released on bail, which is called 'default' bail.

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