Bail is the rule and jail is the exception; arrest must be justified and not routine.

ORDER

This Bail Application is filed under Section 482 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita ( BNSS ).

2. Petitioner is the 8^th accused in Crime No.102/2024 of Cyber Crime Police Station. The above case is registered against the petitioner alleging offences punishable under Sections 384 , 419 , 420 , 465 , 468 and 471 r/w Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code . The offence under Section 66D of the Information Technology Act is also alleged.

3. The prosecution case is that, on 20.04.2024, the 1^st accused contacted the defacto complainant from his mobile and informed that the defacto complainant engaged in unauthorized and illegal methods using his Aadhaar card. Thereafter, under the guise of transferring the call to Mumbai police, the 1^st accused in connivance of the 2^nd accused created a fake id using Skyoe IS of the 2^nd accused as Mumbai Crime Branch. Thereafter, the accused using the fake id, forwarded arrest warrant, fabricated letter using logo with the Director of Enforcement. It is also alleged that huge amount of the defacto complainant is lost because of this threat.

4. Heard counsel for the petitioners and the Public Prosecutor.

5. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is the 8^th accused and he is not involved in the case, he is an Engineering student. Petitioner is ready to abide by any conditions, if this Court grants him bail.

6. The Public Prosecutor opposed the bail application. He submitted that, investigation is going on.

7. This bail application is pending before this Court from 21.10.2024. No interim order is passed by this Court, interdicting the arrest of the petitioner. Even now, the petitioner is not arrested. Petitioner is a student. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I think the petitioner can be surrendered before the Investigating OfÏcer and the petitioner can be interrogated. After interrogation, if arrest is recorded, there can be a direction to release the petitioner on bail after imposing stringent conditions. I also make it clear that, I am passing this order in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case.

8. Moreover, it is a well accepted principle that the bail is the rule and the jail is the exception. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Chidambaram. P v Directorate of Enforcement [ 2019 (16) SCALE 870 ], after considering all the earlier judgments, observed that, the basic jurisprudence relating to bail remains the same inasmuch as the grant of bail is the rule and refusal is the exception so as to ensure that the accused has the opportunity of securing fair trial.

9. Recently the Apex Court in Siddharth v State of Uttar Pradesh and Another [ 2021(5)KHC 353 ] considered the point in detail. The relevant paragraph of the above judgment is extracted hereunder.

“12. We may note that personal liberty is an important aspect of our constitutional mandate. The occasion to arrest an accused during investigation arises when custodial investigation becomes necessary or it is a heinous crime or where there is a possibility of influencing the witnesses or accused may abscond. Merely because an arrest can be made because it is lawful does not mandate that arrest must be made. A distinction must be made between the existence of the power to arrest and the justification for exercise of it. ( Joginder Kumar v. State of UP and Others ( 1994 KHC 189 : (1994) 4 SCC 260: 1994 (1) KLT 919: 1994 (2) KLJ 97: AIR 1994 SC 1349: 1994 CriLJ 1981)) If arrest is made routine, it can cause incalculable harm to the reputation and self-esteem of a person. If the Investigating OfÏcer has no reason to believe that the accused will abscond or disobey summons and has, in fact, throughout cooperated with the investigation we fail to appreciate why there should be