IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.S.DIAS WEDNESDAY, THE 17^TH DAY OF JANUARY 2024 / 27TH POUSHA, 1945 BAIL APPL. NO. 144 OF 2024 CRIME NO.2957/2023 OF ERNAKULAM SOUTH POLICE STATION, ERNAKULAM AGAINST THE ORDER/JUDGMENT CMP 7990/2023 OF ADDITIONAL CHIEF JUDICIAL MAGISTRATE (E&O),ERNAKULAM PETITIONER/ACCUSED: SREENISH POOKKODAN, AGED 30 YEARS S/O.VELAYUDHAN, VADAKKUMURI HOUSE, KAVANOOR P.O., MALAPPURAM DISTRICT, PIN - 673639 BY ADV BABU S. NAIR RESPONDENTS/STATE & COMPLAINANT:

1 STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM, KOCHI, PIN - 682031

2 THE STATION HOUSE OFFICER, ERNAKULAM TOWN SOUTH POLICE STATION,ERNAKULAM DISTRICT, PIN -

682016 OTHER PRESENT:

SR PP SMT SEETHA S THIS BAIL APPLICATION HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 17.01.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:

O R D E R

The application is filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the sole accused in Crime No.2957/2023 of the Ernakulam Town South Police Station, Ernakulam, registered against him for allegedly committing the offence punishable under Section 451 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3(1)(a)(c) and 5(1) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923. The petitioner was arrested on 21.12.2023.

2. The gist of the prosecution case is that: while the accused was working on contract basis with the Cochin Shipyard Limited during March, 2023 to 19.12.2023, he had with his mobile-phone taken the photographs of the defence ships, including their ships, their maintenance, their position information, information on visits of VVIPs, information about various events inside the shipyard, which is determined as illegal, and transferred the information to the enemy country and the same is being used on a social media account of one Angel Payal. Accordingly, the accused had shared the official secrets. Thus, the accused has committed the above offences.

3. Heard Sri.Babu S. Nair, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Smt. Seetha S., the learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the respondents.

4. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner vehemently argued that the petitioner is totally innocent of the accusations levelled against him. He has been falsely implicated in the crime. The petitioner has not uploaded any pictures on the social media. The petitioner was a contract employee of the Cochin Shipyard. It is without understanding the seriousness of the matter, the petitioner had uploaded some of the pictures that he had taken of the Cochin Shipyard on the social media. The pictures are freely available on the search engine Google. The petitioner has no criminal antecedents. He hails from a financially backward family from a village in Malappuram district. The petitioner is in judicial custody since 21.12.2023. The Investigating Officer had even secured the police custody of the petitioner. Therefore, the investigation in this case is practically complete. Hence, the application may be allowed.

5. The learned Public Prosecutor seriously opposed the application. The investigating officer has filed a statement, inter alia, stating that the petitioner had taken the pictures on his mobile phone of the defence ships, including their arrival, their maintenance, information on their position, information on visits of VVIP, the defence warships under construction etc., of the Cochin Shipyard Ltd., which is a High Security Zone, and had transferred the information to Angel Payal, a social media account. The petitioner's mobile-phone and laptop have been seized and have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram for expert opinion. After collecting the links of the Facebook accounts, it was revealed that the facebook account was logged from the enemy country Pakistan, which is evident from the materials obtained by the Cyber-Cell. The investigation is in progress. As the account is being used in the enemy country, the investigating team requires f