The court established conditions for granting pre-arrest bail, emphasizing non-serious injuries and absence of criminal history.

ORDER

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

arrest bail.

2. The applicant is the accused in Crime No.61/2026 of Mulanthuruthy Police Station, Ernakulam District. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 126(2), 118(1) and 110 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita , 2023.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is as follows: The defacto complainant along with his friends used to consume alcohol in the courtyard of the residential building owned by Mr. Thomas Mani. The applicant is residing there as a tenant. On 13.01.2026 at about 2 pm, being unhappy with the consumption of alcohol by the defacto complainant and his friends, the applicant, with intention to inflict bodily injury and with knowledge that death would have caused, assaulted the defacto complainant using the blunt portion of a knife causing him injuries on his head and left shoulder and thereby committed the offences.

4. I have heard Sri. Nidhin Raj Vettikkadan, the learned counsel for the applicant and Sri. K.A. Noushad, the learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

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

6. A reading of the FIS would show that the incident took place at the back yard of the house where the applicant resides as a tenant. According to the applicant, the defacto complainant along with his friends used to habitually consume alcohol in the back yard of the house and after consuming alcohol, the defacto complainant and his friends used to create problems. It is alleged that on the date of the incident also, the same situation happened and when the applicant intervened to prevent any untoward incident, the incident in question happened. The said version of the applicant is probable going by the allegations in the FIS. The injury sustained by the defacto complainant is not serious. The applicant has no criminal antecedents. Considering the allegations made against the applicant, his custodial interrogation seems unnecessary. For these reasons, I find this to be an appropriate case to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicant.

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

(i) The applicant shall be released on bail in the event of his arrest on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) 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 applicant shall fully cooperate with the investigation, including subjecting himself to the deemed police custody for discovery, if any, as and when demanded.

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

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

(v) The applicant 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 applicant shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/mod