Pre-arrest bail may be granted where the accused is not alleged to have committed serious overt acts, lacks criminal antecedents, and where custodial interrogation is deemed unnecessary to the investigation.

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 No.5 in O.R. No.1/2019 of Thirunelly Forest Station, (Begur Forest Range), Wayanad. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 9 , 29, 39(1), (2) & (3), 2(16), (20), (35) and (36) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

3. The prosecution case, in short, is that the accused hunted a spotted deer using a country-made gun from Bubson Estate in the Russelkunnu area, within the jurisdiction of Thirunelly Forest Station under the Begur Range of North Wayanad Division, attempted to cook it and thereby committed the aforementioned offences.

4. I have heard Sri.T.H.Aravind, the learned counsel for the applicant and Sri.M.P.Prasanth, 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 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 perusal of the records reveal that no serious overt act has been attributed to the applicant. Going by the prosecution case, it was the accused Nos. 1 and 2 who hunted the deer using a country-made gun. The allegation against the applicant is that, the accused Nos. 1 and 2 shared meat of the deer with him. The applicant was arrayed as an accused based on the confession statement of the accused Nos.1 and 2. He has no criminal antecedents. The investigation is almost over. 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/modification of bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.