Court grants pre-arrest bail, emphasizing insufficient evidence for custodial interrogation under current allegations.

ORDER

This application is filed under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita , 2023 (for short, BNSS ), seeking pre-arrest bail.

2. The applicants are the accused Nos.2 and 3 in Crime No.41/2026 of Kannanalloor Police Station, Kollam District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 126 (2), 296(b), 115(2), 118(1) and 118(2) r/w Section 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita , 2023.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that on 18.01.2026 at 00.15 hours, the accused No.1 had restrained the injured Sunilraj by pulling his shirt and verbally abused him. Then, the applicant No.1 had struck the head of the father of the complainant's friend causing fracture of skull and internal bleeding. The applicant No.2 had struck the head of the defacto complainant with a stone causing bleeding. The applicant No.1 had struck the friend of the defacto complainant with a piece of wood and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Sri.Sumesh Chakkadath Subramanian C.S., the learned counsel for the applicants and Smt.Sreeja V., the learned Senior Public Prosecutor. 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 Prosecutor, 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. Annexure-2 would show that another crime was registered as Crime No.40/2026 against the defacto complainant and others on the allegation that the defacto complainant stabbed to death the brother of the applicant No.1 The incident pertaining to both crimes is one and the same. The brother of the applicant No.1 died and the applicants sustained serious injuries in the incident. The question who is the aggressor is a matter of evidence. Considering the allegations made against the applicants, their custodial interrogation seems unnecessary. For these reasons, I find this to be an appropriate case to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicants.

In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions:-

(i) The applicants shall be released on bail in the event of their arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) each with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the arresting officer/investigating officer, as the case may be.

(ii) The applicants shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting themselves to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as and when demanded.

(iii) The applicants shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. every Saturday until further orders. They shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.

(iv) The applicants shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.

(v) The applicants shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation. (vi) The applicants shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.

Sd/-

DR. KAUSER EDAPPAGATH JUDGE

SKP