Abhijit Chatterjee v. State of Assam

ORDER Date : 21.09.2023

Heard Mr. B. M. Choudhury, learned counsel appearing for the accused petitioner as well as Mr. B. Sarma, learned Addl. P.P., Assam appearing for the Page No.# 2/3 State respondent. None appears for the respondent No. 2/informant though the name of Mr. S. Das, learned counsel, has been reflected in the cause list. By this petition under Section 439 Cr.P.C., the accused-petitioner, namely, Shri Abhijit Chatterjee, has prayed for grant of bail in connection with Session Special Case No. 24/2023 under Section 376(C) of the IPC, r/w Section 6 of the POCSO Act, r/w Section 75 of J.J. Act. The scanned copy of the case record along with the case diary, as called for, is placed before the Court. It is noticed that the accused petitioner has been in judicial custody since

09.12.2022, i.e. for 286 days. The FIR reveals the allegation of rape on the informant/victim by the accused petitioner. On perusal of the case record, it appears that there is prima facie incriminating material against the accused petitioner subject, of course, to final outcome in investigation. However, having considered the length of detention in judicial custody and substantial progress in investigation in respect of the accused petitioner's complicity in the alleged offence, this Court is of the considered opinion that further continuation of detention of the accused in the interest of investigation is not warranted. Therefore, it is provided that the accused petitioner, named above, shall be released on bail of Rs. 40,000/- with 2 (two) sureties of like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judge (POCSO Act), Kamrup (M) at Guwahati subject to the following conditions-Page No.# 3/3

i) That the accused petitioner shall continue to appear before the learned trial Court on all dates to be fixed from time to time till the case is disposed of; and

ii) That the accused petitioner shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any of the remaining prosecution witnesses; and

iii) That out of the two sureties, one must be a government servant subject to verification of the relevant documents, if deemed necessary and after such verification, the learned Court below shall return the original documents retaining legible scanned copy thereof on record for future reference. Breach of any of the above conditions of bail shall render cancellation of the bail in accordance with law. This disposes of the bail application.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

Page No.# 1/3 GAHC010159762023 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : Bail Appln./2594/2023 ABHIJIT CHATTERJEE S/O- AJAY KUMAR CHATTERJEE, R/O- QUARTER NO. 64, BLOCK 4,TYPE 1, SPECIAL GC, CRPF, 9TH MILE AMERIGOG, GUWAHATI,P.S- BASISTHA, DIST- KAMRUP (M), ASSAM. PERMANENT ADDRES- VILL- DEBIPUR, P.O- PAPURDIHI, DIST- BANKURA, STATE-WEST BENGAL VERSUS STATE OF ASSAM REP. BY THE PP, ASSAM 2:XXX-XXXX D/O- LATE ROBIN R/O- SANJARI GAON P.S- THELAMARA DIST- SONITPUR ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. B M CHOUDHURY Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AJIT BORTHAKUR