In Brief
Fakhrey Alam was arrested on 8 March 2017 in connection with criminal offences including fraud, forgery, and illegal arms possession, as well as offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The police obtained 180 days to file a charge sheet but filed it only for some charges within the period; the UAPA charge sheet came 211 days after arrest, filed as a supplementary charge sheet after the default bail application deadline. The Supreme Court held that default bail is a fundamental right under Article 21, not merely statutory. The State cannot use supplementary charge sheets to circumvent the 180-day time limit. The appellant was entitled to default bail since the UAPA charge sheet was not filed within the prescribed period. The appeal was allowed.
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