Staff Reporter
Panaji
The District and Sessions Court, North Goa, on Tuesday, granted conditional bail to Janardan Khorate, the main accused in a case of attempted forceful eviction of a family in Anjuna, citing the failure to provide him with the grounds of his arrest.
The court also granted conditional bail to another accused Nikhil Shirodkar (30) owing to the similar reason.
Ram Subrai Prabhu Dessai, Additional Sessions Judge 2, Mapusa, observed, “I have perused the records of investigation and I.O. drew my attention to the memo of arrest. After perusal of the same, I find that the same is cryptic and does not disclose any grounds of arrest as held by the Apex Court.”
The Judge observed that the Supreme Court has held that the right to be informed about the grounds of arrest flows from Article 22(1) of the Constitution, and any infringement of this fundamental right would vitiate the process of arrest and remand.
The Apex Court has further mandated that when violation of Article 22(1) is established, it is the duty of the court to forthwith order the release of the accused, even if statutory restrictions on the grant of bail exist, the Judge observed.
“The above direction is crystal clear, unambiguous and mandatory in nature. Considering the fact that grounds of arrest are not provided to the accused, the arrest is rendered illegal and the accused is entitled for bail forthwith,” observed the Judge. Shirodkar was arrested on last Friday. Shirodkar is a friend of Khorate and had accompanied him to the scene of offence, police had said. Khorate was arrested on February 19 after his anticipatory bail was rejected by the Additional Sessions Court, Mapusa. The incident had occurred on February 8 and an FIR was registered at the Anjuna police station on February 10.
On February 13, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch police, Ribandar.
Owing to the alleged mishandling of the case, the Goa police department on February 19 had transferred Mapusa Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Sandesh Chodankar to the Goa Reserve Police (GRP), Panaji. Earlier, the police had arrested Rakesh Raha, Parshuram Gawas and Vickey Naik in connection with the case. They were later released on conditional bail by a court in Mapusa. Police said that teams have been formed to nab the remaining absconding accused.
