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Judgment
Apprehending arrest in connection with Baishnabnagar Police Station Case No. 397 of 2020 dated 04.08.2020 under Sections 147/148/149/325/332/353/435/427 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 3 of he Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Section 9 of the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, the petitioners have filed the instant application for anticipatory bail.
It is a matter of great concern that the citizens of this country took the law in their own hands and vandalized not only the Police Officers while discharging their duties but also the public property. The Police Officers intercepted a person ferrying the sacred bull for performing the rituals and more than 100 people encircled the Police Station/Post to create a ruckus pressurizing the Police Officers to succumb to their unreasonable demand and refrain from discharging their statutory functions. The petitioners are the accomplices who accompanied such hooligans and according to the learned Advocate for the State they damaged public property i.e. the Police Post. The Police Officers suffered injuries and their statements have already been recorded disclosing the names of some of the people who are known to them. The names of the petitioners are evidently present in the statement of the Police Officers though their specific role has not been ascribed therein.
In recent times a tendency has developed in the society that if any action is taken by a Public Officer in pursuit of discharge of his duty, the mass gatherings are eminently done not only to create a pressure upon them to desist them from discharging their pious duties but also to avoid any action to be taken by such Public Officers. Even sometime public properties are damaged and they do not owe any responsibility nor there is any mechanism for accountability towards the burden on the public exchequer. They appeared to have escaped easily as no overt act has been disclosed because of the large gatherings of the people and sometimes it is projected as an act of defence in the trial. Time has come that every dutiful citizen of the country must realize their duties and accountability to the society and must refrain from taking the law in their own hands. The destruction of the public property has a ramification on the society and the taxpayers are burdened for no fault on their part. The charging sections would evince that not only the Public Officers but the public properties have also been destroyed.
We would not have extended the benefit of Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure without putting the petitioners on conditions but our attention is drawn to the order of the Coordinate Bench passed in CRM 6176 of 2021 on September 21, 2021 when two similarly circumstanced co-accused persons namely, Srinibash Mandal & Anr. are granted anticipatory bail.
Learned Counsel for the State fairly submits that the petitioners stand on the same footing that of the other co-accused as their names were also disclosed in the statement of the injured persons. We thus do not feel that the petitioners should be treated differently as the equality and equal protection is the hallmark of the Constitutional vision. However, we must express our serious concern on the role of such gatherings interfering the carriage of the statutory duties by the Public Officers. We thus intend to put certain conditions/restrictions while extending the similar benefit to the petitioners.
The prayer for anticipatory bail is allowed.
Accordingly, in the event of arrest the petitioners namely, 1. Ashish Singha 2. Rajkumar Mandal @ Raju Mandal 3. Nayan Kumar Singha @ Nayan Singha 4. Samar Singha 5. Sukchand Mandal 6. Rohit Singha 7. Appel Mandal @ Apel Mandal 8. Ramesh Mandal & 9. Nagen Mandal, shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/-(Rupees Ten thousand only) each, with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the arresting officer, on condition as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and on further condition that the petitioners shall meet the Investigation Officer once in week and on further condition that they would not indulge in such activities in future and while meeting the Officers there must be specific finding recorded by such Officers that no such act has been done by them during the interregnum period between the last visit and the one on such date.
The application for anticipatory bail being CRM 6935 of 2021 is thus disposed of.