Manas Kumar Pal vs State Of Tripura

Heard Mr. KN Bhattacharjee, learned senior counsel assisted by Ms. R. Majumder, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner as well as Mr. Ratan Datta, learned PP appearing for the State-respondent.

The petitioner, Sri Manas Kumar Pal has filed the instant application under Section 438 Cr.P.C. for granting him pre-arrest bail in connection with Amtali PS case no. 123 of 2019 under sections 354/448/506/34 of the IPC.

Mr. KN Bhattacharjee, learned senior counsel has submitted that some outsiders who recently joined the Tripura University (Central) have targeted the local staff of the said University and they are trying to create an unruly atmosphere in and around the University and trying to implicate the local officers and staff of the University falsely in various cases only with an intention to harass them and to establish their dominance. The present case is a glaring instance of such nuisance. Mr. Bhattacharjee, learned senior counsel has candidly submitted that the complainant was under the influence of some outsiders, who have recently entered into the State of Tripura and joined the University.

Mr. Datta, learned PP has produced the case diary and has submitted that the petitioner may be released on anticipatory bail, with some stringent condition.

I have perused the case diary.

The complainant of the instant complaint apparently seems to be fabricated ex facie. It is alleged that the accused-petitioner on 07.08.2019 at around 8.00 pm along with 7/8 persons entered into the quarter of the complainant at Women hostel inside the University in drunken condition and misbehaved with her and threatened to rape and kill her. It is further alleged that, they uttered that they could change even the Vice Chancellor of the University and the said statement was repeatedly uttered by the accused-petitioner. They further threatened to sexually molest her and cut her into pieces after committing rape upon her.

On the basis of the said complaint, the Officer-in-Charge of the Amtali police station registered a case bearing Amtali PS case no. 25 of 2019 under sections 354/448/506/34 of the IPC.

Noticeably, according to the complainant, the incident occurred on 07.08.2019 at 8.00 pm. Had it been true, then she could have lodged the complaint on the same evening of 07.08.2019 but, she did not do so. Curious enough, the complainant Ms. S.I. Gambhini, who is the Matron of the Women students' hostel of the Tripura University did not lodge any complaint even on 08.08.2019 and on 09.08.2019, she lodged the instant complaint.

Naturally, such delay in bringing the said incident to the notice of the police just after the occurrence of the incident, arose so many questions.

Surprisingly, though the complainant was allegedly attacked and threatened by the accused-petitioner and his associates, she did not think it necessary to bring it either to the notice of the Vice Chancellor of the University or to the notice of any other staff of the University.

It is stated in the complaint and submitted by learned senior counsel appearing for the accused-petitioner that, on 07.08.2019, the accused-petitioner left his office at around 6.30 pm along with Sri Tanmoy Bhowmik, another staff of the University and had taken tea in a tea-stall at the opposite side of the road and after having tea, the accused-petitioner along with said Tanmoy Bhowmik have started for his home by riding the bike of said Tanmoy Bhowmik at around 7.00 pm. Thereafter, Tanmoy Bhowmik dropped the accused-petitioner at Milan Sangha and after being dropped there, the accused-petitioner again went to a tea-stall and chatted with some persons and had tea with them and stayed there for 30-40 minutes and, thereafter, the accused-petitioner went to Unnayan Sangha club, of which he is a Member and stayed there till 9.30-10.00 pm. It is urged by learned senior counsel that the accused-petitioner was not at all present in the place of occurrence, as mentioned in the complaint.

Most surprisingly, the women students' hostel is situated within the campus of the University, which is protected by boundary wall around it, having 24 hours Security coverage, and the quarter of Matron i.e. the complainant, is inside the hostel. If 8/9 intoxicated persons had entered there and created any nuisance, then obviously the students residing in the hostel would have noticed it and they would not have remained silent. Moreover, the main entrance of the hostel remains under lock and key from inside.

For argument sake, if this court considers that the gate was not locked, then also the security guards could have raised alarm to such illegal entry of 8/9 intoxicated persons. Today, is an era of mobile phone. The security guards could easily inform the matter to the police or any other authorities of the University. The nature of allegations that were stated in the complaint must have taken a substantial time to do all those nuisance.

I have noticed that the complaint has been written in Hindi and there is no mention of the scribe, who typed the complaint. The entire episode appears to be suspicious about the truthfulness of the incident.

Keeping in mind the entire facts and circumstances, succinctly as enumerated above, in my opinion, the instant complaint is an afterthought due to some extraneous consideration, which persuade me to enlarge the accused-petitioner on pre-arrest bail. Moreover, the accused-petitioner is a permanent resident of Agartala and is a regular employee of the Tripura University. Learned senior counsel has again submitted that the accused-petitioner is ready to extend his full co-operation towards the process of fair investigation and he will assist the investigating officer.

Accordingly, it is ordered that, in the event of arrest, the petitioner, namely, Manas Kumar Pal, shall be released on bail on executing a bond of Rs. 50,000/- with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the arresting authority. However, the petitioner shall appear before the investigating officer twice in a week and co-operate with the process of investigation.

With this observation and direction, the instant application stands allowed and disposed of.

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