Habil Ahmed and Anr v. The State of Assam

ORDER Date : 18.07.2024

Heard Mr. A. Lal, learned counsel for the accused and Mr. P.S. Lahkar, learned Addl. Public Prosecutor for the State respondent.

¶2This petition, under Section 439 Cr.P.C. is preferred by two accused, namely, Habil Ahmed and Simanta Choudhury, who have been languishing in jail hazot in connection with Cyber P.S. Case No. 12/2023, under Sections 120B/419/420/409/468/471 of the IPC, read with Sections 66C/66D of the Information and Technology Act, 2000 for grant of bail.

¶3It is to be noted here that the aforementioned case has been registered on the basis of an FIR lodged by one Papu Gogoi, ACS, Circle Officer, Dispur Revenue Circle on 02.11.2023. The essence of allegation made in the FIR dated

02.11.2023, is that it came to his notice that a mutation order was passed online in Dharitree Portal on 05.10.2023, in case No. MET/Dis/2022-23/96042/OMUT, against a deed, bearing Serial No. 6268, dated 31.12.1995, wherein no offline case record of issuance of any notice, order etc. was found in the office of the informant.

¶4Mr. Lal, the learned counsel for the accused submits that both the accused were arrested on 11.06.2024, and since then, they are behind the bar for last 37 days and as per the forwarding report, dated 14.06.2024, the interrogation in respect to the present accused persons have already been completed and some of the accused persons have also been granted bail by this Court and also by the learned Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) No. 4, Kamrup(M), and that the accused are not named in the FIR also, and they are also ready to cooperate Page No.# 3/4 with the investigating agency, and therefore, it is contended to allow the petition. Mr. Lal has also produced some orders granting bail to some of the co-accused.

¶5On the other hand, Mr. P.S. Lahkar, learned Addl. Public Prosecutor has vehemently opposed the petition and submits that at this stage, only the case diary may be called for.

¶6Having heard the submission of learned Advocates of both sides, I have carefully gone through the petition and the documents placed on record and also perused the order dated 03.04.2024 passed in AB No. 817/2024, order dated 09.04.2024 passed in Bail Appln. No. 943/2024, order dated 08.04.2024 passed in AB No. 741/2024, order dated 16.02.2024 passed in Bail Appln. 420/2024 of this Court and also the order dated 15.05.2024 in AB No. 133/2024 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) No. 4, Kamrup(M), so produced before the Court by the learned counsel for the accused persons.

¶7It is not in dispute that both the accused persons were arrested on

11.06.2024, and thereafter, they were taken into police custody for three days and thereafter, remanded to jail hazot w.e.f. 14.06.2024. It also appears from the forwarding report dated 14.06.2024, that the accused persons were thoroughly interrogated and further, it appears that they are languishing in jail hazot for last 37 days.

¶8In view of the period of detention and also considering the submission of learned Advocates of both sides, further custodial detention of the accused persons seems to be not warranted here in this case and therefore, this Court is inclined to allow the petition. It is provided that on furnishing a bond of Rs. 50,000/- each, with one surety of like amount, to the satisfaction of the learned CJM, Kamrup(M), both the accused be enlarged on bail. Page No.# 4/4

¶9In terms of above, this bail application stands disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010136182024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oBailoAppln./1979/2024o HABILoAHMEDoANDoANRo SONoOFoLATEoSUKURoALI,oRESIDENToOFoREGENToPARADISE,oFLAToNO.oA3,o POLICEoSTATIONoHATIGAON,oGUWAHATI,oDISTRICT-oKAMRUPo(METRO),o ASSAMoPINo781028 2:oSRIoSIMANTAoCHOUDHURY oSONoOFoSRIoKAMINIoCHOUDHURY oRESIDENToOFoREGENToPARADISE oFLAToNO.o2B o5THoFLOOR oPOLICEoSTATIONoHATIGAON oGUWAHATI oDISTRICT-oKAMRUPo(METRO) oASSAMoPIN-o78102o VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMo REPoBYoTHEoPPoASSAM AdvocateoforotheoPetitionerooooo:oMR.oAoLALo AdvocateoforotheoRespondento:oPP,oASSAMoo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Page No.# 2/4 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ROBIN PHUKAN