9911796707
TMI Blog1987 (10) TMI 67X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 030 on 13-8-1987 at Madras Airport, kept concealed in the cloth belt tied around his waist has filed this present petition to set aside the order of the learned Principal Sessions Judge, Madras, granting bail to the first respondent." 2. Facts Briefly are :- On 13-8-1987 the first respondent alighted at the Madras Airport from Singapore flight and on search it was found that in a cloth belt tied around his waist 33 gold bars, totally wighing 330 tolas, valued at Rs. 11,59,116/- were kept concealed and the same were seized under a mahazar. There was no valid import permit from the Reserve Bank of India for the above gold nor was the gold declared to the Customs at any stage. The first respondent, when questioned by the Customs Officer, gave a voluntary statement admitting the fact that he had concealed the above gold on his body without any valid import permit. A case was registered against the respondent for an offence under Section 135 of the Customs Act and is being investigated into by the petitioner. The first respondent was arrested and remanded to judicial custody. At that stage, the first respondent filed Crl. M.P. No. 3107 of 1987 before the Principal Sessions Judge, Madr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... feguard against the first respondent absconding from India and that the other reasons given by the petitioner for requiring the order of bail to be set aside, are legally untenable. Learned counsel also relied on certain decisions, which I shall discuss later. 7. The question that arises for consideration is whether the impugned order suffers from any serious infirmity, so as to justify invoking the inherent powers of this Court to set aside the order in the interests of justice. 8. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, the provision primarily intended to have a bail already granted cancelled is Section 439(2), under which the High Court or the Court of Sessions could direct that any person who has been released on bail be arrested and committed to custody. In an application under Section 439(2) Cr. P.C. the initial decision of the court in granting bail is not assailed but what is sought for is, a review of that decision already made, necessitated by circumstances supervening the grant of bail, as when the accused after gaining his liberty consequent to the bail order abuses the same, either by threatening the witnesses or interfering with the smooth progress of investigation. Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the learned Sessions Judge is being scrutinised by this Court. 11. Reliance was placed both by the standing counsel for Customs and the learned counsel for the 1st Respondent, upon the following decisions of the Supreme Court, to indicate the different considerations that should weigh with Courts while considering bail in State v. Captain Jagjit Singh (A.I.R. 1962 S.C. 253), the Supreme Court laid down that the Court granting bill.... "..... should then have taken into account the various considerations, such as, nature and seriousness of the offence, the character of the evidence, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, a reasonable possibility of the presence of the accused not being secured at the trial, reasonable apprehension of witnesses being tampered with, the larger interests of the public or the State, and similar other considerations which arise when a court is asked for bail in a non-bailable offence. It is true that under Section 498 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, (present Section 439) the powers of the High Court in the matter of granting bail are very wide, even so where the offence is non-bailable, various considerations such as those indicated abov ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the first respondent and the guilt of the first respondent has to be proved at the trial and the question of the possible sentence that would be awarded could not also be considered since that would be a contingency that would arise only in the event of a conviction, are directly opposed to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the passage already extracted from State v. Captain Jagjit Singh (A.I.R. 1962 S.C. 253), that considerations such as the nature and seriousness of the offence, the character of the evidence, and circumstances which are peculiar to the accused trial are also relevant considerations. 16. Learned Counsel for the first respondent relied upon a decision of the Supreme Court in Moti Ram v. State of M.P. (1978 Crl. L.J. 1703). The above decision, has little hearing on the present question. The Supreme Court in that case modified the order of the learned Magistrate requiring the accused who was a poor mason to furnish sureties for Rs. 10,000/- from his own District, rejecting the suretyship of his brother since it was in another District. On account of his poverty the accused was unable to furnish the required sureties. The Supreme Court, under those circums ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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