SC grants bail to kingpin in cattle smuggling case on Indo-Bangladesh Border

The Supreme Court of India has granted bail to an alleged kingpin in a cattle smuggling case on the Indo-Bangladesh Border.

The Supreme Court of India has granted bail to an alleged kingpin in a cattle smuggling case on the Indo-Bangladesh Border. On Monday, the bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari granted bail to the alleged kingpin, Enamul Haque, in the offence of smuggling of cattle on the Indo-Bangladesh Border with the help of Border Security Force (BSF) commandant at Murshidabad Border, West Bengal.

It was alleged against Enamul Haque that he is the kingpin at whose instance the entire gamut of the alleged offence of smuggling of cattle through the Indo-Bangladesh border was carried on and has paid illegal gratification to the BSF officials for facilitation of the trade. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohtagi, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan and Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, appearing for the accused, stated that he has been in custody for over 14 months now and charge sheet and two supplementary charge sheets have been filed against Enamul Haque in an offence only punishable by seven years.

He stated that the gravity of the offence is determined by the length of the punishment. He also argued that all the co-accused persons are already on bail in the present case so the accused is entitled to bail on the grant of parity. It was argued on behalf of the Petitioner that he is an accused in FIR registered in Cochin wherein Haque has been granted statutory bail and the conditions imposed on him have been relaxed and he has even travelled abroad and came back to India post-grant of Bail before his arrest in present FIR.

Furthermore, it was argued that CBI had issued three 41A CrPC notices and thereafter he was arrested when he was called on a notice under section 160 CrPC which is issued to a witness. Additional Solicitor General of India, Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi appearing for CBI vehemently opposed the Bail Application of Haque and argued that there is nothing wrong with the order passed by the High Court of Calcutta as the Accused is a habitual offender, Cochin case was registered in 2018 and the present case was registered in 2020 on similar facts.

CBI also contented that Haque has taken advantage of the porous borders to move items across, which also has a bearing on the National Security and if Haque is released on bail it will be a threat to National Security. CBI also contented that Haque is an influential man as despite being Look Out Circular issued against him, he still managed to enter India through the border, with the complicity of local police. If released, it would render further investigation vulnerable.

Advocates appearing for the Petitioner replied to the contention of CBI that a person cannot be kept behind bars merely because the accused might be a threat to national security and the offence of smuggling cannot be stated to be a threat to national security. (ANI)

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