JUDGEMENT

This Criminal Appeal has been filed against the order dated

24.08.2022 passed by the learned Principal Sessions Judge, Erode, Erode District, dismissing the bail petition in Crl.M.P.No.2361 of 2022 filed by the Appellant/Accused.

2. The case of the prosecution has been succinctly captured in para nos.3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 of the counter that has been filed by the investigating officer and they read as under:-

“3 It is submitted that the respondent registered a case in Crime No.355 of 2022 dated 26.07.2022 against the appellant for the offences under Sections 121, 122 and 125 IPC and Sections 18, 18A, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 on the basis of a complaint given by Tr.T.Kumaresh, Sub-Inspector of Police, Erode (North) Police Station, who received a secret information with regard to the involvement of the appellant accused in the above crime.

4 It is submitted that the secret investigation conducted and the activities of the appellant have revealed a fact that the appellant accused has links with the banned organization namely Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) having Had Office at Iraq and Syria. The appellant had downloaded an App called TELEGRAM and NEKOGRAM in his mobile phone number to contract the leaders of ISIS to execute their commands and to do terrorist activities in India. Immediately, the respondent swung into action and arrested the appellant on 26.07.2022 at 22:30 hours in his house and in the presence of the Revenue Inspector and Village Administrative Officer. The grounds of arrest has been communicated to the appellant as per the guidelines issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

6 It is submitted that pursuant to the voluntary confession given by the accused, the respondent has recovered ISIS flag, his Samsung Galaxy Cell Phone (A21S model), one Transcend pen-drive (16GB), two knives and three diaries under a seizure mahazar. Further, the appellant had opened the lock to download certain chats from his Nekogram conversation App with Abu Basheer Samiya. All those conversations in Arabic language were photographed with the help of a police photographer and 76 photos have been printed. The recovered objects were sent to the Ld. Principal Sessions Judge, Erode, on Form 91. Further, the appellant did not cooperate to unlock his cell phone to know the entire conversation uploaded/exchanged by the accused with his high command.

7 It is submitted that the accused has also established a link with like minded people at Erode and continued to induce them to establish their links with ISIS as a mark of respect to Islam. The appellant was arrested and remanded to the judicial custody on 27.06.2022. Thereafter, the respondent filed CMP No.2320 of 2022 before the Learned Principal Sessions Judge, Erode, to get police custody. The Learned Judge has allowed the petition on 08.08.2022 and granted custody for two days. During the police custody, again the appellant gave a voluntary statement on his own volition wherefrom the respondent has recovered two photographs from the house of the appellant. One photograph of the appellant with ISIS flag and another photograph shows an ISIS terrorist holding a beheaded head of a person, which the appellant has kept as his profile photo in NEKOGRAM App of his cell phone. Both were seized under a mahazar and sent to the court. The appellant has also stated that he has generated virtual numbers to create a fake social media account and it was sent to ISIS to enable to create a fake account for their communications.

8. It is submitted that in view of a peculiar lock system in the cellphone recovered from the petitioner, the entire conversation and chats could not be downloaded. The appellant had applied an advanced lock system which would destroy the entire recordings/conversation if someone has made an attempt to unlock the system. Therefore, it requires the assistance of a hi-tech lab. Under such circumstances, the seized cell-phone has to be examined by a