New Delhi: The Supreme Court has once again emphasized the principle of “bail not jail”, saying that any person who fears a threat to national security will be indefinite Can’t be put in jail. The court said that no person can be kept in jail indefinitely just on the ground that the investigative agencies consider the activities of a person as a big conspiracy on the basis of speculation and call it a threat to national security. The remarks were made by a bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Dinesh Maheshwari while granting bail to Mohammad Enamul Haque, the alleged prime accused in the cross-border cattle smuggling case.
Is even spending a year in jail not enough for investigation?
The central agency had also arrested a BSF commandant for his alleged involvement in the case. It was alleged in this case that the proceeds from smuggling activities were allegedly given to political parties and officials of the local administration. In this case, when the CBI lawyer said that the investigation of this big conspiracy is pending, then Justice Chandrachud and Maheshwari asked, this is such an open investigation which we do not understand. When in this case the person is being kept in custody indefinitely, then how will it help in the investigation of a bigger conspiracy. Especially when the other accused have been granted bail? In this case, the person has spent one year and two months in jail, isn’t that enough time to investigate a bigger conspiracy?
Imprisonment for more than one year
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Inamul Haque in the Supreme Court, said that the CBI had filed a charge sheet in the animal smuggling case on February 6, 2021. For this, on February 21 last year itself, the court had also filed a supplementary charge sheet. After this, all the other accused including the Commandant of BSF got bail from the court but the Calcutta High Court did not grant bail to Haq. Rohatgi said that the maximum punishment, in this case, can be imprisonment up to 7 years. In such a situation, it is wrong not to give bail for more than 1 year.
Threat to national security
On this, the CBI counsel said that Inamul Haq is the mastermind of animal smuggling. There is also the participation of BSF people, customs officers, local police, and others. The lookout notice for Haq is yet to come out but he has reached Bengal via land route via Bangladesh. It is clear that he is in collusion with the local police and he can also be a threat to national security. He said that there is a possibility of some big conspiracy in this case and investigation is pending at present.
