Fakir Ali and 2 Ors v. The State of Assam

ORDER Date : 21-03-2024 Heard Mr. A.K. Ahmed, learned counsel for the accused/petitioners and Mr. B.B. Gogoi, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State.

¶2This is an application made under Section 439 Cr.P.C., seeking bail by the accused/petitioners, namely, (i) Md. Fakir Ali, (ii) Danesh Choudhury and (iii) Rafiqul Islam, in connection with Basistha P.S. Case No. 144/2024, registered under Sections 379/34, IPC read with Section 11(1)(d) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 read with Section 13(1)/16 of the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021.

¶3It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that petitioner no. 2 is the owner of the cattle who purchased the said cattle from Balikuchi Weekly Animal Market. The petitioner no. 1 is the driver and the petitioner no. 3 is the handyman of the said vehicle from which 26 numbers of cattle were recovered. In support of the fact the petitioner no. 2 submitted purchase receipts. It is also submitted that the petitioners are in custody since 07.03.2024 and as the cattle has already been recovered, nothing remained for investigation of the case. Considering the above, the petitioners may be enlarged on bail.

¶4Learned Additional Public Prosecutor has produced the case diary and has submitted that the receipts collected during investigation shows that the petitioner no. 2 purchased the said cattle from the animal market.

¶5I have considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties. I have also perused the relevant documents available in the record. Page No.# 3/4

¶6In view of the above and considering the length of detention of the accused/petitioners, this Court is of the view that further custodial detention of the accused/petitioners is not necessary for the purpose of investigation of the case.

¶7Accordingly, the accused/petitioners, named above, shall be released on bail in connection with Basistha P.S. Case No. 144/2024, registered under Sections 379/34, IPC read with Section 11(1)(d) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 read with Section 13(1)/16 of the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021, on furnishing bail bond of Rs.20,000/- each with a suitable surety each of the like amount, to the satisfaction of learned CJM, Kamrup (M).

¶8The direction for bail is further subject to the conditions that the accused-petitioners:

(a) shall not leave the territorial jurisdiction of learned CJM, Kamrup (M), without prior written permission from him/her;

(b) shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer.

¶9In terms of the above, this bail application stands disposed of.

¶10Send back the case diary.

JUDGE Page No.# 4/4 Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010054052024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oBailoAppln./747/2024o FAKIRoALIoANDo2oORS.o SONoOFoUSMANoALI,oRESIDENToOFoVILLAGEoCHAPAI,oP.OoDALGAON,oP.So DHULA,oDISTRICToDARRANGoASSAM 2:oDANESHoCHOUDHURY oSONoOFoLATEoSIRAJoCHOUDHURY oRESIDENToOFoGOG oP.S.oBAIHATAoCHARIALI oDIST.oKAMRUP oASSAM 3:oRAFIQULoISLAM oSONoOFoMOHIRoUDDIN oR/OoUTTARoMOINBORI oPSoKALGACHIA oDISToBARPETA oASSAM oPINo78131o VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMo REPoBYoTHEoLD.oPP,oASSAM AdvocateoforotheoPetitionerooooo:oMRoAoKoAHMEDo AdvocateoforotheoRespondento:oPP,oASSAMoo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Page No.# 2/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE MALASRI NANDI