Reginamary Chellamani v. State 2026 INSC 127 - Accused - Informing Right To Legal Representation
Criminal Trial - Trial Courts must inform the accused of their right to legal representation and their entitlement to be represented by legal aid counsel in the event they cannot afford a counsel. The trial Courts shall record the offer made to the accused in this regard, the response of the accused to such offer and also the action taken thereupon in their orders, before commencing examination of the witnesses.
Case Info
Basic case details
Case name and neutral citation:Reginamary Chellamani v. State rep. by Superintendent of Customs, 2026 INSC 127
Coram (Bench):Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K. Vinod Chandran
Judgment date:05 February 2026 (New Delhi)
Caselaws and citations
The order does not cite or refer to any other judgments or case law. It only notes that an “identically situated accused person, who was travelling along with the appellant … on the same flight, has been granted bail by this Court,” but that earlier bail order is not identified by case name or citation.
Statutes / laws referred
The Court refers to the following provisions:
- Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
- Section 8(c)
- Section 20(b)(ii)(C)
- Section 22(c)
- Section 23
- Section 28
- Section 29
- Customs Act, 1962
- Section 135
- Procedural context:
- Criminal Appeal arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 18886 of 2025
- High Court order in Crl.O.P. No. 7857 of 2025
- Trial case R.R. No. 41/2021 (C.C. No. 225/2022) before the Principal Special Judge under EC and NDPS Act Cases, Chennai
Brief summary (three sentences)
The appellant, Reginamary Chellamani, was accused of NDPS offences involving contraband above commercial quantity and had been in custody for about 4 years and 2 months when she challenged the Madras High Court’s refusal of regular bail. The Supreme Court, noting her prolonged incarceration and the fact that an identically situated co‑accused on the same flight had already been granted bail, allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court order, and directed her release on stringent conditions to be fixed by the trial court, including surrender of passport and cooperation in trial. The Court also issued an important procedural direction that trial courts must inform accused of their right to legal representation and legal aid, record the offer and response before examining witnesses, and High Courts must issue suitable instructions to trial courts to implement this practice scrupulously.
