Prolonged incarceration without trial may violate constitutional rights, enabling courts to grant bail, highlighting the balance between individual liberty and the severity of charges.

JUDGMENT :

K.V. JAYAKUMAR, J.

1. This Criminal Appeal is preferred by the 4^th accused in Crl.M.P.No.281/2025 in S.C.No.2/2021 pending before the Special Court for Trial of NIA Cases, Ernakulam. The appellant, along with others, was charged for the offences punishable under Sections 120B, 121, 121A and 122 of the Indian Penal Code , Sections 18, 18A, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 [‘UA(P) Act’ for the sake of brevity], Section 27(1)(e)(iv) of the Kerala Forest Act, 1961 and Section 7 r/w 27(2) of the Arms Act.

2. The prosecution case in brief is that, the accused, Dr. Dinesh D., being a member of the proscribed terrorist organisation, CPI(Maoist), convened meeting and training camp during September 2016 in the reserve forest of Karulai in Malappuram district with arms, including automatic rifles for the purpose of furthering the activities of proscribed terrorist organisation, CPI (Maoist), in order to wage war against the Government of India.

3. The case was registered on the basis of the information given by the first accused, Kalidas, when he was arrested by the Dy.S.P, Agali on 21.09.2017 in connection with crime No.153/2017 of Sholayur Police Station. During the investigation, 25 accused persons were arrested; out of them, 8 accused persons died in different incidents, and 4 are absconding. An investigation was conducted by the Edakkara Police by registering crime No.249/2017 against 19 persons. Later, the case was handed over to the Anti-Terrorist Squad Police Station, Ernakulam, and renumbered as crime No.32/2020/ATS on 19.03.2020. During the investigation of Anti-Terrorist Squad Police Station (ATS), Kerala, seven more accused were identified, and they were also arraigned as accused 19 to 25. Later, the ATS filed charge sheet against five accused persons including the appellant herein under Sections 120B, 121, 121A, 122 of IPC, Section 27(1)(e)(iv) of Kerala Forest Act 1961, Section 7 r/w Section 27(2) of the Arms Act, Sections 18, 18A, 20, 38 and 39 of the UA(P) Act 1967. In the meanwhile, the Government of India, as per order dated 19.08.2021, directed the NIA to take over the investigation and the case was re-registered as S.C.No.02/2021/NIOA/KOC on 20.08.2021 and after investigation, final report was submitted before the Special Court for the Trial of NIA Cases, Kochi on 23.04.2022, citing 274 witnesses and more than 408 documents.

4. During the investigation, it was revealed that Crime No.536/2016 was registered by the Edakkara Police in connection with the exchange of fire between the Maoists and the security forces on 24.11.2016, in which two Maoists died. During the investigation of the Edakkara Police Station, various electronic gadgets, including laptop, pendrive, etc, were recovered from the scene of the occurrence.

5. The learned counsel for the appellant, Sri. Abdul Khader Kunju S., submitted that the appellant was arrested in connection with the case on 04.02.2021 by Edakkara Police and has been in custody ever since his arrest. The application submitted by the appellant for bail was dismissed by the Special Court vide order dated 09.07.2025 in Crl.M.P.No.281/2025 by placing reliance on the rigour of Section 43D(5) of the UA(P) Act. It is submitted that the appellant has been in judicial custody for over four years and five months and is therefore entitled to be released on bail due to the prolonged period of incarceration without trial. The trial of the case has not yet commenced.

6. The learned counsel submitted that no prima facie case has been established against the appellant, and that the mandatory sanction r