Allowed¶15

Abhijit Halder v. State of West Bengal

Calcutta HC7 Apr 2026CRM(M)/359/2026

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

CRM (M) 359 of 2026; bail under S.439 CrPC / S.483 BNSS granted by Tirthankar Ghosh, J.; accused Abhijit Halder; Bhadreswar PS case 462/2024 dated 23.11.2024; passport fraud on fake documents; BNS 2023 ss.318(4)/336(2)/336(3)/340(2)/61(2)/316(2)/338; Passport Act s.12(1)(b); Aadhaar Act ss.34/35/52; Registration of Birth and Deaths Act s.23; custody since 25.06.2025 exceeding nine months; charge-sheet filed, charges framed; 32 prosecution witnesses; documents in prosecution custody; bond Rs.20,000; two sureties Rs.10,000 each (one local); Hooghly district; attendance before trial Court on every date.

What did the court decide?

Release on bail upon bond of Rs. 20,000/- with two sureties of Rs. 10,000/- each (one local), subject to presence before the trial Court on every date and no travel outside District Hooghly without prior permission.

Abhijit Halder Vs State of West Bengal — Cheating and Forgery | Calcutta HC (2026)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

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Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner, in custody since 25 June 2025 in Bhadreswar Police Station case no. 462 of 2024, should be released on bail under Section 439 CrPC / Section 483 BNSS, the charge-sheet having been submitted, charges framed and 32 witnesses proposed by the prosecution.

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Court's answer

Bail was considered favourably because the case rests on documents which are in the custody of the prosecution, the petitioner had been in custody for more than nine months, and the trial was unlikely to conclude soon as 32 witnesses were proposed to be examined.

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Ratio / Principle

Without entering into the merits of the case, the Court was inclined to release the petitioner on bail and allowed the prayer for bail.

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Key takeaways

Petitioner Abhijit Halder to be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs. 20,000/- with two sureties of Rs. 10,000/- each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the learned 1st Additional District and Sessions Judge, Hooghly.ratio¶13
Conditions of bail: the petitioner shall remain physically present before the trial Court on every date and shall not leave the jurisdiction of the District of Hooghly without the trial Court's prior permission.ratio¶14

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bail allowed. Tirthankar Ghosh, J. granted bail to Abhijit Halder under Section 439 CrPC / Section 483 BNSS in connection with Bhadreswar Police Station case no. 462 of 2024 dated 23.11.2024 (BNS 2023 ss. 318(4)/336(2)/336(3)/340(2)/61(2)/316(2)/338; Passport Act 1967 s. 12(1)(b); Aadhaar Act 2016 ss. 34/35/52; Registration of Birth and Deaths Act 1969 s. 23), where the allegation was supply of money for obtaining an international passport on fake documents. With the charge-sheet filed, charges framed, custody exceeding nine months (since 25.06.2025), 32 witnesses proposed and the case resting on documents in the prosecution's custody, bail was granted without entering into merits: bond Rs. 20,000/-, two sureties of Rs. 10,000/- each (one local), to the satisfaction of the 1st Additional District and Sessions Judge, Hooghly; petitioner to attend the trial Court on every date and not leave District Hooghly without prior permission.

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07.04.2026 Court No.35. D/L.50. Rakib (Allowed)

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CRM (M) 359 of 2026

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In Re: An Application for Bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973/Under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 in connection with Bhadreswar Police Station case no. 462 of 2024 dated 23.11.2024 under Sections 318(4)/336(2)/336(3)/340(2)/61(2) added Sections 316(2)/338 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 read with Section 12(1) (b) of the Passport Act, 1967 read with Sections 34/35/52 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and Section 23 of the Registration of Birth and Deaths Act, 1969.

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And

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In the matter of : Abhijit Halder.

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Mr. Ankit Agarwala Ms. Alotriya Mukherjee Ms. Shaila Afrin Ms. Suparna Chatterjee

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……Petitioner. .....for the Petitioner. ……for the State.

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Learned advocate appearing for the petitioner submits that petitioner is in custody since 25^th of June, 2025, charge-sheet has already been submitted, charges have already been framed and the prosecution intends to examine 32 witnesses in support of its case. As such, the petitioner may be granted bail.

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Learned advocate for the State on the other hand opposes the prayer for bail and submits that the allegations against the petitioner is that he along with others supplied huge amount of money for obtaining international passport based on fake documents.

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Having considered that the present case is based on documents and the same are in custody of the prosecution and the petitioner is in custody for more than nine months, along with the

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fact that there is no possibility of the trial concluding very soon as 32 witnesses have been proposed to be examined by the prosecution. Without entering into the merits of the case, I am inclined to release the petitioner on bail. Accordingly, the prayer for bail of the petitioner is allowed.

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As such, petitioner namely, Abhijit Halder shall be released on bail upon furnishing bond of Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees Twenty Thousand only), with two sureties of Rs. 10,000 (Rupees Ten Thousand only) each, one of whom must be local to the satisfaction of the learned 1^st Additional District and Sessions Judge, Hooghly.

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If on bail, the petitioner shall be physically present before the learned trial Court on each and every date and shall not leave the jurisdiction of District of Hooghly without the prior permission of the learned trial Court.

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Accordingly, CRM (M) 359 of 2026 is allowed.

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

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

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(Tirthankar Ghosh, J.)

Abhijit Halder v. State of West Bengal

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Abhijit Halder v. State of West Bengal

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Why is it important?

What the court decided

Issues for consideration

Statutes considered

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Coram

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