Gauhati High Court
Jiten Gogoi vs The State Of Assam on 25 June, 2021
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
Page No.# 1/4
GAHC010088952021
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : Bail Appln./1159/2021
JITEN GOGOI
S/O. SRI AMBESWAR GOGOI, R/O. KANUBARI BALIJAN GRANT, P.S.
SONARI, DIST. CHARAIDEO, ASSAM.
VERSUS
THE STATE OF ASSAM
REP. BY PP, ASSAM.
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. J C GOGOI
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
25.06.2021 The Court proceedings have been conducted through remote video conferencing mode due to the prevailing situation in the State due to Covid-19 pandemic. Heard Mr. B. Islam, learned counsel for the accused- petitioner and Mr. T.K. Misra, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent State of Assam.
Page No.# 2/4 By this application under Section 439, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), the accused- petitioner viz. Sri. Jiten Gogoi has prayed for his release on bail, as he is in custody since 22.04.2021 in connection with Sonari Police Station Case no. 84/2019, registered under Sections 120B/121/121A/122/123/124A/384/506/34 of the IPC read with Sections 25 Arms Act & R/W Sections 15/16 /17/18/18B/19/20/21/22C/23/38/39(2)/40(2) of UA(P) Act.
The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, attached to Sonari Police Station on 13.03.2019. The accused-petitioner is not named in the FIR. It has inter alia been stated that many persons are in contact with the members of the banned terrorist organization, United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and assisting the members of the organization to carry out its terrorist activities. During the course of the investigation, 7 (seven) persons including the present accused-petitioner, were arrested and remanded to custody vide forwarding report dated 22.04.2021 (Annexure-3). In the said forwarding report, it was alleged that the said seven persons were in frequent contact with the active cadres of ULFA and were providing vital information to them.
Learned counsel for the accused-petitioner has referred to the averments made in the application wherein the accused-petitioner has himself admitted that the younger brother of the accused-petitioner is a cadre of ULFA. But the accused- petitioner has no association whatsoever with the said organization or his brother's activities. He has further submitted that the accused-petitioner is a farmer by profession and he has been implicated and arrested in the case merely on suspicion. Learned counsel has placed 3 (three) orders, all dated 31.05.2021, passed in BA no. 30/2021, BA no. 31/2021 and BA no. 32/2021, by Page No.# 3/4 the learned Sessions Judge, Charideo. By the said 3 (three) orders, the three other accused persons, namely, Ajoy Gogoi, Debajit Baruah and Mintu Baruah, who were remanded to custody along with the present accused-petitioner on 22.04.2021 have already been granted bail finding no incriminating materials against them in the case diary produce before the said Court. As the present accused-petitioner is also similarly situated with those accused persons, learned counsel for the accused-petitioner has prayed for release of the accused- petitioner on bail.
Learned Additional Public Prosecutor, after going through the materials in the case diary, has submitted that he has not found any incriminating materials directly linking the accused-petitioner with the activities of the banned organization, ULFA.
Having considered the aspects, noted above, more particularly the fact that no incriminating materials have been collected against the petitioner regarding his association with the banned organization, I am of the considered view that further custodial detention of the accused-petitioner is not necessary for the purpose of carrying out investigation of the case and his release on bail, at this stage of investigation, is not likely to cause any prejudicial effect in the further investigation, provided he continues to extend his assistance and co-operation in the further investigation of the case.
Accordingly, it is directed that the accused-petitioner shall be released on bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 30,000/- with one local surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Charaideo, Sonari subject to the conditions that :-
[i] the accused-petitioner shall co-operate with the investigation and Page No.# 4/4 make himself available for interrogation whenever required by the Investigating Officer (I.O.) of the case;
[ii] the accused-petitioner shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any witness acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer;
[iii] the accused-petitioner shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not to play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police;
[iv] the accused-petitioner shall maintain law and order and he shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which he is accused, or of the commission of which he is suspected; and [v] the accused-petitioner shall regularly remain present during the trial and co-operate the Court to complete the trial for the above offences, if charge sheeted in the case.
Liberty is granted to the accused-petitioner to produce a downloaded copy of this order and the jurisdictional court shall verify the same from the website before acting on it.
The application stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant