In an anticipatory bail application, a police constable was accused of misusing her position to escort vehicles carrying banned gutkha. The High Court held that the case involved serious allegations against a police officer, necessitating custodial interrogation, and thus rejected the bail plea.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
aba.1634.15.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION NO. 1634 OF 2015
Sonali Ramchandra Ingole ...Applicant Versus The State of Maharashtra ...Respondent
Mr. Pankaj Kawale I/b Mr. Mikhil Chate for the Applicant
Mr. S. S. Pednekar, A.P.P for the Respondent-State
CORAM : REVATI MOHITE DERE, J. FRIDAY, 30TH OCTOBER, 2015
P.C. :
for the State.
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He has stated in his complaint that on several occasions and on several dates, the Ertiga Car was summoned to the Police Station by the coaccused; that the co-accused along with the applicant would all travel in the Ertiga Car and take the vehicle on the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka; and escort vehicles carrying gutkha, which is a banned substance in Maharashtra. According to the complainant, the said Ertiga Car was being used by the co-accused to escort vehicles/trucks carrying prohibited and banned substances. He has alleged that on one such occasion, the complainant was asked to alight from the vehicle and his vehicle was taken by the applicant and the other co-accused to Pandharpur and thereafter, the said vehicle was not returned back to him. He has stated that his vehicle was taken by the applicant and the other co-accused - Devkate and Gholve to escort a tempo carrying banned contraband i.e. gutkha to a safe place. He has alleged that the said persons had misused his vehicle for escorting banned substances which were being carried in trucks.
is a lady constable and that she is newly recruited in the police force and that she was only accompanying the co-accused. He submits that there is
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nothing to be recovered, inasmuch as, the Ertiga car has been seized. He further submits that the applicant has a good track record of having registered several offences.
The accused in the present case, is a Police Constable who has misused and abused her position and has engaged in illegal activities. It appears
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from the material that the applicant and the other co-accused were using the said Ertiga Car of the complainant and were escorting trucks/vehicles, which were illegal transporting gutkha into the State. Instead of apprehending the offenders and curtailing the illegal activities, the applicant and other co-accused, all police, were themselves indulging in such illegal activities.
the same shall be considered on its own merits, uninfluenced by the observations made herein.
REVATI MOHITE DERE, J.
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether anticipatory bail can be granted to a police constable alleged of misusing her position to escort trucks carrying banned gutkha.
Whether the serious nature of the allegations and the need for custodial interrogation preclude the grant of pre-arrest bail.
Sonali Ramchandra Ingole
The State of Maharashtra
REVATI MOHITE DERE
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
