Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Jayant Kumar Ghosh vs National Investigation Agency on 12 December, 2014
Bench: J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO(s). 2577 OF 2014
(Arising out of SLP(Crl.) No(s). 751 of 2013)
JAYANT KUMAR GHOSH Appellant(s)
VERSUS
NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY Respondent(s)
O R D E R
Leave granted.
Aggrieved by an order dated 10th September, 2012 passed by the Gauhati High Court by which the appellant was denied the benefit of bail pending trial of Case no. 1 of 2009 on the file of the Special Judge, NIA, Assam, the instant appeal is filed.
In fact, the impugned order is an appellate order passed under Section 21 of the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008. The appellant is in custody ever since his date of detention i.e. 31st October, 2009 i.e. for a period of more than five years as on today. Though the trial of the above-mentioned case has commenced, a large number of witnesses are yet to be examined. We are informed by the respondent that so far only 42 witnesses have been examined and approximately 160 more witnesses are required to be examined.
Signature Not VerifiedThe Special Court is not a Court exclusively dedicated for the trial of this case.
Digitally signed by Deepak Mansukhani Date: 2014.12.12 19:16:08 IST Reason:Therefore, we do not see any possibility of the trial coming to a conclusion in the near future.
-2-In the above-mentioned factual background, the question is whether the appellant could be continued in custody as an under-trial prisoner. In our opinion, the fact that he has been an under trial prisoner for 5 years itself is a fact that weighs very heavily against his continued detention.
The State very vehemently opposed the prayer of the appellant on the ground that the case in which the appellant is an accused, is a sensitive one and has implications of extremists activity. In our opinion, that by itself may not justify holding a man in custody for eternity.
In the circumstances, we deem it appropriate to enlarge the appellant on bail subject to the following conditions:
(1) the appellant furnishes two sureties for a sum of Rs. 1(One) lakh each;
(2) the appellant shall stay at his official residence at Calcutta, i.e. 119/3, Maharaja Nanda Kumar Road, Kolkata-36,, District 24 Paraganas, West Bengal and report to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Barrackpore Police Commissionerate, North 24 Pargana, Kolkata, West Bengal once a day;
(3) the appellant shall not change his residence without prior intimation to the above-mentioned Officer.-3-
(4) It is open for the respondent to keep such surveillance on both the physical movements as well as the telephonic communications of the appellant, as they deem fit.
(5) The respondent will permit the appellant to travel to Gauhati as and when his presence is required in connection with the above-mentioned criminal case.
It is open to the respondent to seek modification of any one of the above-mentioned conditions if the respondents at any point of time opine that the said conditions require either modification or an additional condition required to be imposed having regard to the activity of the appellant.
The criminal appeal is disposed of accordingly.
….......................J. (J. CHELAMESWAR) …......................J. (S.A. BOBDE) NEW DELHI DECEMBER 12, 2014.
ITEM NO.211 COURT NO.7 SECTION II
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 751/2013
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 10/09/2012 in CRLA No. 14/2012 passed by the High Court Of Gauhati) JAYANT KUMAR GHOSH Petitioner(s) VERSUS NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY Respondent(s) (with appln. (s) for bail and permission to file additional documents and permission to place on record subsequent facts and placing addl. facts and documents on record and office report) WITH SLP(Crl) No. 4469/2012 (With Office Report) SLP(Crl) No. 1794/2013 (With appln.(s) for bail and appln.(s) for permission to file additional documents and Office Report) Date : 12/12/2014 These petitions were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J. CHELAMESWAR HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.A. BOBDE For Petitioner(s) SLP(Crl.)751/2013 Mr. P.K. Goswami, Sr. Adv. SLP(Crl.)1794/2013 Mr. Arunabh Chowdhury, Adv.
Mr. Vaibhav Tomar, Adv.
Mr. Parthiv K. Goswami, Adv.
Mr. Gainilung Panmei, Adv.
Mr. Karma Dorjee, Adv.
Mr. M. Gunedhav Singh, Adv.
Mr. Vikash Singh,Adv.
Mr. Anupam Lal Das,Adv.
SLP(Crl.)4469/2012 Mr. B. Krishna Prasad,Adv.-2-
For Respondent(s) Mr. P.S. Narsimha, ASG Mr. K. Radhakrishna, Adv.
Ms. Binu Tamta, Adv.
Mr. P.K. Dey, Adv.
Ms. Sadhna Sandhu, Adv.
Ms. Sushma Suri, Adv.
Mr. B. Krishna Prasad,Adv.
Mr. B. V. Balaram Das,Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R SLP(Crl.) No. 751/2013 Leave granted.
The criminal appeal is disposed of in terms of the signed order.SLP(Crl) No. 4469/2012 SLP(Crl) No. 1794/2013
List the matters on Monday, the 15th December, 2014.
(DEEPAK MANSUKHANI) (INDU BALA KAPUR) COURT MASTER COURT MASTER