Giving emphasis to "bail, not jail" judicial philosophy, the Apex Court on Monday said no person can be indefinitely kept in jail with an open-ended investigation by probe agencies on a conjectural apprehension that activities of an accused could involve a larger conspiracy which may prove detrimental to national security.
This observation was made by a bench of Justice DY Chandrachud & Justice Dinesh Maheshwari while granting bail to Md Enamul Haque, the alleged prime accused in the trans-border cattle smuggling case in which the central agency had also arrested a BSF commandant for his alleged involvement in the smuggling activities, proceeds of which were allegedly paid to political parties & local administration officials.
Appearing for Haque, senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi said that the CBI has filed a charge sheet in the alleged cattle-smuggling case on Feb 6, 2021, & followed it up with a supplementary charge sheet on Feb 21 last year. He said the accused BSF commandant, as well as other accused, have also been granted bail but the High Court of Calcutta had rejected Haque's bail appeal even though he has been in jail for more than one year in an offence that prescribes a maximum punishment of 7 years imprisonment.
For the CBI, additional solicitor general Aman Lekhi said the petitioner is the kingpin of a racket involving BSF personnel, customs officials, local police & others for trans-border cattle smuggling through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border.
He also said that Haque evaded a lookout notice but he surfaced in West Bengal by reaching West Bengal through land route from Bangladesh, thus, indicating collusion by local police & raising a grave concern for national security.
When he said investigation into a larger conspiracy is still pending, Justices Chandrachud & Maheshwari asked, "This open ended investigation is what we do not comprehend. How detaining a person indefinitely will help in probing larger conspiracy when other accused have been granted bail? Is one year & two months, for which he has been in custody, not enough for probing the larger conspiracy?"
The bench granted Haque bail saying his continued detention was not warranted.
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