The Delhi High Court has asked the city police to place on record data showing the number of cases under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act where it filed the charge sheet within the stipulated 90 days.
A bench headed by Justice Mukta Gupta also asked the police to disclose the details of instances where charge sheet was filed after seeking an extension of the 90-day deadline.
Section 43D(2) of the anti-terror law grants 90 days' time to the investigating agency to complete its probe and file the charge sheet. It, however, states if it is not possible to complete the investigation within that period, the court concerned may extend the deadline up to 180 days.
“State will file a data showing in how many cases under UAPA, charge sheet was filed within 90 days; in how many cases, extension of time was sought and in case, extension was sought as also the period for which extension was granted and the period in which charge sheet was filed thereafter, well before the next date of hearing,” said the bench, also comprising Justice Anish Dayal, in a recent order.
The court issued the direction on a plea by a UAPA accused challenging a trial court order extending the 90-day deadline granted to the Delhi Police in the case against him.
The petitioner contended the test for granting extension is that of “impossibility of completion of investigation within ninety days”, which is materially different from inability or the mere fact of non-completion of examination of call records or other related investigation.
He said the trial court did not assess the report of the public prosecutor on the threshold of impossibility and the investigation seemed to not have progressed since the police and judicial remand was allowed earlier this year.
“The higher threshold of 'impossibility' has been inserted for good reasons since the UAPA being a special act already grants an extraordinarily long period of 90 days for pre-charge detention of the accused, which is an exception in criminal justice jurisprudence. Thus any further extension of the period of detention without charge has to be assessed on a higher threshold,” the plea said.
The matter will be heard next on October 19.
-With PTI Input
