JUDGMENT :

1. By this petition, the petitioner seeks regular bail in ECIR/05/STF/2021 recorded by the respondent pursuant to the predicate offence(s) being FIR No. 230/2020 registered at P.S.Special Cell under Sections 3/4/5 of the Official Secrets Act and Section 120B IPC.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner is a senior freelance journalist aged 61 years old, suffering from various ailments and has represented premier news agencies like United News of India (UNI), The Tribune, Free Press Journal, Sakal Times and Enadu. The petitioner has also written various books and is a journalist accredited by Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India. The petitioner worked as a freelance journalist for Chinese newspaper i.e. Global Times from the year 2014 to 2016 and during this employment as a journalist, the petitioner used to send and receive emails from his aforesaid employer which are all easily available in public domain. In connection with the predicate offence being FIR No. 230/2020 registered at P.S.Special Cell, the petitioner was arrested for the offences punishable under Sections 3/4/5 of the Official Secrets Act on 14th September 2020 and was releas