Soushish Sarkar and Ors. Vs the State of West Bengal — Anticipatory Bail | Calcutta HC (2026)

Soushish Sarkar and Ors. Vs the State of West Bengal — Anticipatory Bail | Calcutta HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Anticipatory bail granted to the petitioners (Soushish Sarkar & Ors.): release on arrest upon a bond of Rs.10,000/- each with two sureties of like amount each (one of whom must be local), subject to cooperation with the investigation, abstention from threatening or intimidating witnesses, and weekly meetings with the I.O. until submission of the report in final form.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioners (Soushish Sarkar & Ors.) are entitled to anticipatory bail under Section 482 of the BNSS, 2023 in connection with Kotwali P.S. Case No. 41 of 2026.

Court's answer

Considering the materials in the case diary and the alleged roles ascribed to the petitioners, custodial interrogation of the petitioners was not required and anticipatory bail was to be granted.

Ratio / Principle

In the event of arrest, the petitioners shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- each with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer.

Key takeaways

Further bail conditions imposed: the petitioners shall cooperate with the investigation, shall not threaten or intimidate witnesses, and shall meet the Investigating Officer once a week till submission of report in final form.ratio¶14
The application for anticipatory bail is allowed.ratio¶15

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Anticipatory bail under Section 482 of the BNSS, 2023 granted to the petitioners (Soushish Sarkar & Ors.) in connection with Kotwali P.S. Case No. 41 of 2026 dated 21/01/2026 under sections 126(2)/115(2)/117(2)/118(2)/109/304(2)/3(5) of the BNS. Considering the case diary materials and the alleged roles ascribed to the petitioners, and noting that the principal accused and the three named assailants had already been arrested while the two injury reports disclosed no grievous injury, the Court held that custodial interrogation of the petitioners was not required. Bail directed in the event of arrest on a bond of Rs.10,000/- each with two sureties of like amount each (one of whom must be local), to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer, conditioned on cooperation with the investigation, non-threatening/non-intimidation of witnesses, and weekly meetings with the I.O. until submission of the report in final form. Application for anticipatory bail allowed. (Jay Sengupta, J.)

25/03/2026 D/L – 43 Court No.6 S. Kundu Allowed

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CIRCUIT BENCH AT JALPAIGURI

CRM (A) 218 of 2026

In Re: An application for anticipatory bail under Section 482 of the BNSS, 2023. In connection with Kotwali P.S case no. 41 of 2026 dated 21/01/2026 under sections 126(2)/115(2)/117(2)/118(2)/109/304(2)/3(5) of the BNS.

In the matter of: Soushish Sarkar & Ors.

...Petitioners.

Mr. Subhasish Misra Mr. Satyajit Paul Mr. Rounak Ghosh Mr. Saikat Chatterjee Mr. Chattu Roy

…for the petitioners.

…for the State.

Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits as follows. The petitioners have been falsely implicated in this case due to political rivalry. The principal accused in this case have already been arrested.

Learned counsel appearing for the State opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail. He relies on the two injury reports which, however, do not show infliction of any grievous injury. He relies on the statements of witnesses where the names of three persons have been taken along with unnamed others as the assailants. However, those three persons have been arrested.

2

Considering the above, the other materials available in the case diary and the alleged roles ascribed to the present petitioners, I do not think that custodial interrogation of the petitioners is required in this case and I am inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioners.

In the event of arrest, the petitioners shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- each with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer and also be subject to further conditions that the petitioners shall cooperate with the investigation and shall not threaten or intimidate witnesses. The petitioners shall meet the I.O once a week till submission of report in final form.

Accordingly, the application for anticipatory bail is allowed.

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

(Jay Sengupta, J.)