Mohammand Ansari @ Mohammed Ansari Vs State of West Bengal… — Bail and Remand | Calcutta HC (2025)

Mohammand Ansari @ Mohammed Ansari Vs State of West Bengal… — Bail and Remand | Calcutta HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Bail granted to Mohammand Ansari @ Mohammed Ansari on furnishing bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one local) to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Uttar Dinajpur, subject to conditions of remaining within Raiganj police station jurisdiction, appearing on every date of hearing, and not tampering with evidence or intimidating witnesses; trial Court at liberty to cancel bail for non-compliance without further reference to this Court.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, in custody for about 3 years and 7 months and on the same footing as co-accused Mojahid Ansari (already granted bail) insofar as period of detention is concerned, is entitled to bail on parity.

Court's answer

The petitioner, in custody for about 3 years and 7 months on the same footing as co-accused Mojahid Ansari as regards period of detention, is entitled to the same benefit of bail as the co-accused; it is pertinent that only 8 out of 18 witnesses have been examined and conclusion of trial in the near future is bleak.

Ratio / Principle

The petitioner shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each (one of whom must be local), to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Uttar Dinajpur, subject to conditions that he remain within the jurisdiction of Raiganj police station, appear before the trial Court on every date of hearing, and not tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses; on failure to comply without justifiable cause, the trial Court may cancel bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bail — parity with co-accused — application under Section 439 CrPC / Section 483 BNSS, 2023 in Raiganj Police Station Case No. 805 of 2021 under Sections 447/324/326/307/302/34 IPC. Petitioner in custody about 3 years 7 months, on the same footing as co-accused Mojahid Ansari who was granted bail on 22nd January, 2025; the defacto complainant's Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 11601/2025 against that bail order was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 7th April, 2025. Only 8 of 18 witnesses examined; possibility of early conclusion of trial bleak. Parity bail allowed: bond of Rs.10,000 with two like sureties (one local) to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Uttar Dinajpur, subject to conditions — remain within Raiganj police station jurisdiction, appear on every hearing date, not tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses; trial Court free to cancel bail for breach without further reference.

22.04.2025 11 jb. jdt. Allowed

C.R.M. (DB) 461 of 2025

In Re : An Application under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure/under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 filed in connection with Raiganj Police Station Case No. 805 of 2021 dated 17.09.2021 under Sections 447/324/326/307/302/34 of the Indian Penal Code. And

In Re : Mohammand Ansari @ Mohammed Ansari ... Petitioner.

Mr. Kunal Ganguly Mr. Kaustav Banerjee ... For the Petitioner. Mr. Debasish Roy Mr. S. Bhakat ... For the State. Mr. Nirupam Dhali … For the De Facto Complainant

The petitioner seeks parity with co-accused Mojahid Ansari who has been granted bail on 22^nd January, 2025 on the touch stone of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is on the same footing in so far as the period of detention is concerned. The order granting bail to co-accused Mojahid Ansari was assailed by the defacto complainant before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and by an order passed on 7^th April, 2025 in Special Leave Petition (Criminal) no. 11601/2025, the Special Leave Petition was dismissed.

Learned counsels for the State and the defacto complainant oppose the prayer.

The petitioner is in custody for about 3 years and 7 months and appears to be on the same footing with the co-accused Mojahid Ansari in so far as the period of detention is concerned. Since the co-accused Mojahid Ansari was granted bail by this

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Court upon consideration of his period of detention, the petitioner is entitled to the same benefit. It is pertinent to record that 8 out of 18 witnesses have been examined till date and possibility of conclusion of trial in near future is bleak.

Accordingly, the prayer for bail is allowed.

The petitioner namely, Mohammand Ansari @ Mohammed Ansari shall be released on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand only), with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Uttar Dinajpur subject to condition that he shall remain within the jurisdiction of Raiganj police station and shall appear before the learned trial Court on every date of hearing fixed by the learned trial Court. He shall not tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses in any manner whatsoever.

In the event the petitioner fails to comply with any of the conditions stated above without justifiable cause, the learned trial Court shall be at liberty to cancel his bail in accordance with law without further reference to this Court.

The application for bail is disposed of.

All parties shall act on the server copy of this order duly downloaded from the official website of this Court.

Urgent certified website copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities.

(Suvra Ghosh, J.)