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IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
TIRTHANKAR GHOSH
Md. Akbar Ali Khan – Appellant
Versus
State of West Bengal – Respondent
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. freezing bank accounts due to allegations of fraud. (Para 1 , 2) |
| 2. cited precedents relevant to account freezing. (Para 3 , 4 , 5) |
| 3. requirement for justification in freezing orders. (Para 6 , 8 , 9 , 10) |
| 4. court's directive for future proceedings. (Para 7) |
| 5. implicative consequences of blanket account freezing. (Para 11) |
JUDGMENT :
Tirthankar Ghosh, J.
1.Petitioner has approached this Court being aggrieved that four different bank accounts of the petitioner has been frozen. Petitioner complains that petitioner is a businessman and the bank accounts were used for such business transaction only. However, petitioner is faced with inconveniences because of the huge amount of money which has been frozen and is unable to operate the accounts for business purposes.
2. State has submitted a report. Report reflects that the four accounts have been frozen and to that effect an enquiry was conducted through the government portal which reveal accounts of the following banks :-
(i) Account No. 6043026289114463 of Jana Finance Bank was frozen due to 21 complaints of “Online Fraud” registered at different police stations across various states of India (details enclosed).
(ii) Accou
Freezing an entire bank account without evidence linking the account holder to a crime violates the right to livelihood; only specific amounts should be frozen with proper justification.
The freezing of a business account requires identification of the tainted amount to ensure proportionality, and blanket freezes violate constitutional protections against arbitrary state action.
Un-freezing of account - Notice quashed - Unless and until there is a strong suspicion against the petitioners, police would not be justified in freezing account belonging to petitioners. For, such f....
The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement to follow the procedure laid down under Sec. 102 Cr.P.C and the need for sufficient evidence to support the freezing of a bank acco....
The freezing of a bank account must be justified by reasonable suspicion of crime, and the orders should be reasoned, particularly when impacting fundamental rights such as the right to livelihood.
The court established that freezing a bank account in a cyber crime investigation must specify the amount involved and comply with procedural requirements; otherwise, such an action is illegal.
Freezing bank accounts entirely without quantifying disputed amounts violates fundamental rights; only disputed amounts should remain on hold.
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