Gauhati High Court
Bikram Nath vs The State Of Assam on 8 September, 2020
Author: Manish Choudhury
Bench: Manish Choudhury
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GAHC010103472020
THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
(HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)
Case No. : AB 1905/2020
1:BIKRAM NATH
S/O. PUNAYSWAR NATH, VILL. MEKONAR CHUBURI, P.O. BIHAGURI, P.S.
TEZPUR, DIST. SONITPUR, ASSAM.
VERSUS
1:THE STATE OF ASSAM
REP. BY PP, ASSAM.
Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. P BORAH
Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM
BEFORE
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY
ORDER
Date : 08-09-2020 Heard Mr. P. Borah, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. B.B. Gogoi, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent, State of Assam.
2. By this application under Section 438, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), the petitioner viz. Sri Bikram Nath has approached this Court seeking the benefit of pre-arrest bail, apprehending his arrest in connection with Dispur Police Station Case no. 1514/2020 registered for offences under Sections 354A/354D/509/507/294, Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Section 67/67(A), Information Technology Act, 2000.
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3. In the First Information Report (FIR), lodged on 10.07.2020, the informant has, inter- alia, alleged that the petitioner through his mobile phone no. 8822664455, had intimidated the informant to commit rape on her and to kill her by throwing acid. In order to substantiate such accusation, the informant stated to have annexed screenshot of the Facebook post made by the petitioner.
4. The offences defined under Sections 294/354A/354D/507/509 of the Indian Penal Code are found to be bailable in nature. In view of Section 77B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, Section 67 is found to be bailable. Section 67A of the Information Technology Act has provided for punishment for publishing or transmitting any material in the electronic form containing sexually explicit act or conduct. It provides for punishment for either description for a term which may extend to 5 years and, thus, the offence is non-bailable in nature.
5. On perusal of the Facebook screenshots stated to have been posted by the petitioner, it prima facie does not appear to be a sexually explicit act or conduct though the content of the post are not in good taste and it is indicative of some kind of mental depravity on the part of the petitioner.
6. Upon due consideration of the nature and gravity of the allegations made in the FIR and the contents of the Facebook post stated to have been uploaded by the petitioner, this Court does not find any necessity for custodial interrogation of the petitioner, provided he extends his cooperation in the further investigation of the case.
7. Accordingly, it is ordered, that in the event of arrest of the petitioner in connection with Dispur Police Station Case no. 1514/2020, he shall be released on bail on furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 25,000/- with two sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the arresting authority, subject to the conditions that :-
[1] The petitioner shall make his presence before the concerned Investigating Officer of Dispur Police Station Case no. 1514/2020, before Dispur Police Station once in every 2 (two) weeks for the next 8 (eight) weeks.
[2] The petitioner shall co-operate with the investigation and make himself available for interrogation whenever required by the Investigating Officer of the case;
Page No.# 3/3 [3] The 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;
[4] The petitioner shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police;
[5] The 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;
[5] The petitioner shall regularly remain present during the trial and co-operate with the Court to complete the trial for the above offences, if charge sheeted in the case.
The application stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
Return the case diary.
JUDGE Comparing Assistant