The court established criteria for pre-arrest bail, balancing the need for investigation with the rights of the accused under the BNSS.

ORDER

All these applications are filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023 (for short, BNSS ), seeking pre-arrest bail.

2. The applicants in B.A. No.13606/2025 are accused Nos.3, 7 and 11; the applicant in B.A. No.13805/2025 is accused No.6; the applicant in B.A. No.91/2026 is accused No.4 and the applicant in B.A. No.158/2026 is accused No.12 in Crime No.1999/2025 of Fort Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 126 (2), 296(b), 351(2), 140(1), 115(2), 118(1), 324(4) and 110 read with Section 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita ( BNS ), 2023.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that accused Nos.1 to 13, with the intention to commit the murder of the defacto complainant, due to the enmity, on 03.10.2025 at about 8:30 p.m., while the defacto complainant was standing with his friends on Pappanamcode Estate Road, accused Nos.3 to 6 wrongfully restrained him, verbally abused him, and abducted him to Puthenkotta cemetery. Thereafter, the accused No.2 kicked the defacto complainant on his chest and threw a stone at the same area. Subsequently, the accused No.1 obtained a knife from the accused No.2 and attempted to stab the defacto complainant in the stomach. The defacto complainant warded off the attack, resulting in the knife striking his left palm, causing a bleeding injury and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Sri.Saiby Jose Kidangoor, the learned counsel for the applicants in B.A. No.13606/2025, Sri.Shajin S. Hameed, the learned counsel for the applicant in B.A. No.13805/2025, Sri.Akhil Issac Leeson, the learned counsel for the applicant in B.A. No.91/2026, Sri.Sampath V. Toms, the learned counsel for the applicant in B.A. No.158/2026, Sri.K.A.Noushad, Sri.M.C.Ashi and Smt.Sreeja V., the learned Senior Public Prosecutors. Perused the case diary.

5. The learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the above crime. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicants with the alleged crime; hence, they are entitled to get bail. The learned Senior Public Prosecutors, on the other hand, submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicants, and if they are released on bail at this stage, it will affect the course of the investigation.

6. I went through the FIS. Specific overt act has been alleged against accused Nos.3, 4 and 7. Accused No.6 has not been mentioned in the FIS or in the statement of the eye witnesses at all. Even though the name of accused Nos.11 and 12 are mentioned in the FIS, no serious overt act has been alleged against them. That apart, in the statement of the two eye witnesses, their names are conspicuously absent.

7. For the above reasons, I am of the view that the custodial interrogation of accused Nos.3, 4 and 7 is necessary and they cannot be granted pre-arrest bail. However, considering the allegations levelled against accused Nos.6, 11 and 12, their custodial interrogation seems unnecessary. For these reasons, I find this to be an appropriate case to grant pre-arrest bail to the accused Nos.6, 11 and 12 except accused Nos.3, 4 and 7.

8. The learned counsel for the accused Nos.3, 4 and 7 submitted that the accused Nos.3, 4 and 7 are prepared to surrender before the investigating officer.

In the result, the applications are disposed of as follows:-

(i) The accused Nos.6, 11 and 12 shall be released on bail in the event of their arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00