Bar U/S 43D(4) Of UAPA Attracted: Patna HC Refuses To Grant Anticipatory Bail To Accused In Phulwarisharif Conspiracy Case

The Patna High Court refused to grant anticipatory bail to the accused persons in Phulwarisharif Conspiracy case.

The Court was dealing with a batch of five appeals filed by six accused persons namely Manzer Parwez, Abdur Rahman, Mahboob Alam, Shamim Akhtar, Md. Khaliquzzaman, and Md. Amin.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Vipul M. Pancholi and Justice Ramesh Chand observed, “… prima facie case is made out against the appellants. Further, the present appeals are for grant of anticipatory bail and, therefore, the decisions upon which the appellants have placed reliance would not render any assistance to them. … in view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the present case, the custodial interrogation of the appellants is required. Further as discussed hereinabove prima facie case has been made out against the appellants and, therefore, bar contained in Section 43D(4) of the UAPA would be attracted.”

Advocate Syed Masleh Uddin Ashraf appeared for the appellants while Additional Solicitor General K.N. Singh appeared for the respondents.

Brief Facts -

The Bihar Police had received an information about the plan of accused persons to cause disturbance during the proposed visit of the Prime Minister of India. On receipt of the said information, a raid was conducted by Phulwarisharif Police in 2022 at the house of Jalaluddin Khan @ Md. Jalaluddin, who had given the upper floor of his house on rent to accused Athar Parwez. From the floor of the house taken on rent by Athar Parwez, documents relating to unlawful activities aiming disrupting the sovereignty of India and to cause disaffection against the country as also for establishing Pan-Islamic rule in India by subverting the Constitution of India, were recovered. The reading of the documents so recovered suggested propagation of armed struggle and violent means to implement the aforementioned agenda. The said Jalaluddin Khan and Athar Parwez were arrested and they gave the names of other 25 persons who were also involved in the unlawful activities and, therefore, against all the accused persons, a case was registered.

The Govt. of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, after considering the nature and gravity of the offence, directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take up the investigation of the case. Pursuant to the said direction, the NIA re-registered the case under Sections 120, 120B, 121, 121A, 153A, 153B, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Thereafter, Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) was also invoked. As the appellants were apprehending their arrest, they filed separate applications for grant of anticipatory bail before the Special Judge, N.I.A., Patna, Bihar. However, the Special Judge rejected the applications filed by the respective appellants for grant of anticipatory bail and, therefore, the respective appellant filed separate appeal under Section 21(4) of the NIA Act before the High Court.

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case said, “At this stage, it is relevant to note that after considering the various decisions rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the aforesaid case of Vernon (supra), the Hon’ble Supreme Court has considered the provisions contained in Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and keeping in view the fact that the concerned accused was in custody for more than five years, released the said accused on bail.”

The Court added that prima facie case has been made out against the appellants and, therefore, the decisions would not render any assistance to the appellants. It said that there is ample material collected by the investigating agency during the course of investigation.

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the appeals.

Cause Title- Mazer Parwez @ Manzar Perwez v. The Union of India through the National Investigation Agency Bihar

Appearance:

Appellants: Advocate Syed Masleh Uddin Ashraf

Respondents: ASG Krishna Nandan Singh, Advocates Manoj Kumar Singh, Ankit Kumar Singh, Shivaditya Dhari Sinha, and Arbind Kumar.

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