'Strange That An MLA Forged Aadhaar Card For Air Travel': Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To SP MLA Irfan Solanki

The Allahabad High Court last week denied bail to the Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki in connection with the FIR lodged against him for using a forged Aadhar Card and using the same for his air travel.

The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh termed it as 'strange' that a Member of the Legislative Assembly forged the national identity card i.e. Aadhar Card and traveled on the basis of the same.

With this, the Court also rejected the argument of the Counsel appearing for Solanki that the case essentially pertains to a violation of the Aadhar Act 2016 and that for filing a complaint under the act, authorization from the competent authority is mandatory, and since in the present case, no such sanction/permission was granted by the competent authority, therefore, no proceedings could be maintained against him.

"Whether the accused applicant has committed an offfence under Adhar Act or not would be decided at the relevant stage of trial but this Court is of the view that the accused applicant has committed offence under I.P.C. for which no permission/sanction is required from the competent authority for lodging the F.IR. and undertaking the investigation. In view thereof, I do not find any substance in the submission of the learned counsel for the accused applicant that the case essentially pertains to violation of Adhar Act," the bench observed.

The allegations against Solanki are that he, along with other co-accused, manufactured documents such as an Adhar Card to conceal his real identity and on the basis of the forged documents, in order to conceal his identity, took a journey from Kanpur to Delhi and Delhi to Mumbai.

Solanki traveled on a forged identity card purportedly because he was facing another FIR for the alleged commission of offences under the IPC and a non-bail warrant had also been issued against him in the said case, and hence, to avoid his arrest in the case, he fled from UP.

In order to conceal his identity, he took journey from Kanpur to Delhi and Delhi to Mumbai on the basis of a forged ID Card, and the journey from Delhi to Mumbai was performed by the air route. Consequently, an FIR was lodged against him under Sections 212, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120B I.P.C. and he was arrested in December 2022.

Now, seeking bail in the case, he moved the Court by submitting that since the matter pertains to a violation of the Aadhar Act and hence, no police report, no F.I.R. could have been registered against him without prior permission of the competent authority and therefore, the proceedings against him are not liable to be continued.

On the other hand, AGA Devesh Nath Tiwari submitted that Solanki has a long criminal history of sixteen cases. It was also submitted that he might have committed an offence under Aadhar Act but he has also committed offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for which the F.I.R. was registered against him and other coaccused persons and a charge sheet has also been filed.

It was also submitted that preparing a forged identity card is a serious issue and that such issue has to be dealt with sternly as several terrorist activities/attacks take place by terrorists who sneak into the country by using forged and fabricated Aadhar Card which is a very important document of identity of citizens of this country.

Against this backdrop, finding no substance in the arguments advanced by the counsel for Solanki, the Court rejected his bail plea.

Appearances

Counsel for Applicant: Ram Lal Mishra, Gaurav Dixit

Counsel for Opposite Party: AGA Devesh Nath Tiwari

Case title - Irfan Solanki vs. State of U.P [CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 709 of 2023]\

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 73

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