Anticipatory bail is not granted when serious allegations necessitate custodial interrogation to investigate potential larger conspiracies.

ORDER :

Gita Gopi, J.

1. Heard learned Advocate Mr. Darsh P.Desai on behalf of Advocate Mr. Rajesh B.Desai on behalf of the complainant and Mr. Hardik Mehta, learned APP for the respondent State.

2. On submission of learned advocate Ms. Sona Sagar for the applicant, the matter was placed today on top of the Board. However, when the matter was called out, learned advocate failed to appear.

3. Mr. Hardik Mehta, learned APP, has placed on record report of the police sub-inspector, Sector-7 Police Station, Gandhinagar. The report is supported by the statement and documents.

4. The prayer is made in the present application for anticipatory bail under section 438 of the Code of Criminal procedure by the applicant, who states himself to be a journalist and editor of daily newspaper at Dahod, and claims of running N.G.O. at Dahod. The applicant has also projected himself to be a person, who had worked with District Legal Aid Authorities and district judges at Dahod for imparting free legal aid to the needy, and has also placed on record the certificate and photographs.

4.1 It is the say of the applicant that on two occasions, he had been kidnapped and assaulted by the complainant, and in collusion with the police authorities he had been mentally tortured on 26.02.2024, and Rs.10,000/- cash has been snatched by the police at Gandhinagar. The applicant has also stated in the application that on 19.03.2024 at Dahod Godhara Highway, near Hotel Royal, the applicant’s vehicle was stopped by the police and he was forcibly pulled out of vehicle, and a search was carried out without search warrant, and Rs.20,000/- cash from the pocket of the applicant and his mobile were forcefully taken by the police.

4.2 The applicant states that he had approached this High Court in past by filing Special Criminal Application No.3308 of 2024 for police protection and Special Criminal Application No.5537 of 2024 for lodging FIR, wherein the orders dated 12.03.2024 and 08.05.2024 have been passed in the respective matters.

4.3 The applicant also states that he has already filed complaint at Dahod Police Station against the complainant, but was not registered as F.I.R. The applicant states that pursuant to filing of the petitions, the complainant has lodged an FIR at Sector-7 Police Station against the applicant as a counterblast under sections 406, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of I.P.C.

4.4 The applicant states that he had approached the Sessions Court for anticipatory bail by filing Criminal Misc. Application No.872 of 2024, which came to be rejected. Stating that the applicant’s complaint to the police authorities have been ignored, the applicant has also sought to rely upon the newspaper cuttings to allege the illegal and malicious action of police authorities.

4.5 The applicant has raised the ground that the order of the learned Sessions Judge is without application of mind and is passed only believing the version of the police. The ground has also been raised stating that basic requirement of granting anticipatory bail has not been appreciated, and he is a local respectable citizen of the society aged about 60 years and is a retired teacher by profession. Further, the ground has been raised that learned Additional Sessions Judge, Gandhinagar has failed to appreciate that the applicant has been complaining to police against the complainant Haresh Tank and Dhaval Upadhyay, but police in collusion has not lodged FIR against them, and from the period 26.02.2024 to 27.05.2024 almost about three months, no action has been taken by the police.

4.6 The applicant has also sought to raise a ground that learned Additional Sessions Judge has failed to appreciate that the applicant is running a daily newspaper and NGO, and is in constant need of funds for which he had to borrow from different sources during and after the Carona, and when the blank cheques given against the borrowing were deposited by the complainant without instruction of the applicant, came to be bounced, i