Kolkata: Observing that an arrest is illegal if grounds are not provided to the accused in written form, Calcutta High Court granted conditional bail to an accused implicated in an alleged offence involving forged documents purportedly relating to Boro Land Territorial Council, Kokrajhar.
The bench of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray was moved by the petitioner with a bail prayer. The petitioner claimed to have been falsely implicated, asserting that he was not the principal accused. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the individual involved in handling Rs 1,60,00,000 in commission money was neither made an accused nor a witness, suggesting mala fide intent in his implication. Further, at the time of arrest, the police did not inform the ground of arrest to the petitioner, thus violating Supreme Court’s judicial dictum. The de-facto complainant’s counsel argued that the petitioner, along with others, duped them using forged documents and granting bail would jeopardise justice for the complainant.
State counsel submitted that grounds of arrest were orally communicated to the petitioner. Written communication is not mandatory.Court observed that the police failed to comply with the Supreme Court’s directive to communicate grounds of arrest in writing. “..Even alleged oral communication of grounds of arrest or through any other indirect mode of conveying the grounds to the petitioner would not suffice since when the law, as interpreted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, dictates one thing to be done in a particular manner, the same is to be done in the same manner only, and not in any other manner or mode,” the court observed.
The court said: “Non-compliance of such provision is sufficient to hold that the arrest made without informing the concerned person the grounds of arrest was in utter violation of the law.”