Too Much Work not an Excuse for Delay in Filing Charge Sheet: HC to Police

“Too much work” cannot be an excuse for the police to delay filing the charge sheet in a case, the High Court ruled.

A charge sheet had not been filed by the CID police in the ‘insurance scam’ unearthed a year ago. There were a total 22 cases against the accused requiring more time, the prosecution said.

This resulted in the High Court relaxing the bail conditions of the accused.

Accused Rahul Bansal allegedly duped an elderly couple of Rs 8.8 lakh in the current case. The accused would mark their attendance before the station house officer every fortnight till the charge sheet in the case was filed, as per the bail condition.

The charge sheet was not filed even after one year at which point the accused approached the HC.

The accused said that he had to travel several locations for his business, and due to his medical conditions, the rider of his attendance before the SHO of the respondent, the police, was acting oppressively.

The case had been transferred to the CID for investigation and there were as many as 22 cases against the accused, the government advocate submitted.

Hence, there was a delay in filing the charge sheet.

But he argued that the bail conditions should not be relaxed as there was a possibility of the accused not appearing before the investigating officer.

An unimpressed HC said, “Whatever may be the investigating agency, the charge sheet has to be filed within a reasonable time. For more than one year, the charge sheet is not filed in this case. The Sessions Court has imposed another condition, namely, petitioners shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial court without prior permission.”