'How Will Indefinite Detention Help?': Supreme Court Grants Bail To Accused In Cross Border Cattle Smuggling Case

The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and Dinesh Maheshwari was hearing an SLP against a November, 2021 order of the Calcutta High Court refusing bail in a case under sections 120B/420 of the IPC and sections 7, 11, 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

As recorded by the High Court, the case of the prosecution in nutshell is that a preliminary enquiry was registered on 06.04.2018 by the CBI, ACB, Kolkata against Shri Satish Kumar, the then Commandant of 36th Battalion of Border Security Force, Md Enamul Haque (SLP petitioner), Shri Bhuvan Bhaskar s/o Satish Kumar and others on the allegation of misconduct by public servant. In the preliminary enquiry it revealed that cattle from India to Bangladesh across the international border of these two countries were sent in large numbers illegally by paying illegal gratification to the BSF personnel who were responsible to prevent cross-border movement of men and property and safeguard the interest of India. Further, it was alleged that during the posting of Shri Satish Kumar as Commandant of BSF, 36th Battalion, between the period from 19.12.2015 to 22.04.2017, more than 20,000 cows were seized by Border Security Force when those were about to be transported across the border to Bangladesh, however, neither any vehicle carrying the animals nor any person was seized or apprehended at the time of seizure. The cattle so seized were shown in the seizure memo of the BSF to be small in size/common breed in order to reduce the auction value of such cattle. Thereafter the seized cattle were put into auction immediately within 24 hours of seizure with the help of nearest Customs station at Jangipur, Murshidabad and the traders like Md Enamul Haque, Anarul Sk, Golam Mustafa in unholy nexus with the officials procured such cattle at a considerable lower price. It was further alleged that in lieu of such favour, Md Enamul Haque used to pay Rs.2000/-per cattle to BSF officials and Rs.500/-to the concerned Custom officials. Besides the above, the officials of Indian Customs also used to take bribe of 10% of the auction price from successful bidders like Md Enamul Haque, Anarul Sk, Golam Mustafa. Moreover, it was alleged that only the said batch of traders were allowed to buy the cattle at very low prices at the auctions. After showing the auctioned cattle to have been disposed of at local markets the same were illegally smuggled across the international border. Further, Shri Satish Kumar got his son Shri Shri Bhuvan Bhaskar employed in the company of Md Enamul Haque at a monthly salary of Rs 30,000/- to Rs 40,000/- between May, 2017 to December, 2017 which reflects upon his close relationship with the partners of unholy nexus. On such basis, a regular case was registered against the petitioner and others under section 120 B of Indian Penal Code and section 7, 11 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The petitioner was arrested on 06.11.2020 in connection with the aforesaid case and was in custody since then.

On Monday, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, for Haque, told the bench that the chargesheet and a supplementary chargesheet have been filed last year itself, that the co-accused, including a BSF commandant, have already been granted bail, while the SLP petitioner continues to be in jail for over a year even though the maximum imprisonment which he faces is 7 years.

ASG Aman Lekhi, for the CBI, told the bench that the SLP petitioner is part of a cattle smuggling racket across the Indo-Bangladesh border which also involves, BSF personnel, custom officers and the local police; that despite a look-out notice having been issued, he managed to enter into West Bengal from Bangladesh; and hence, the matter is an issue of national security and the investigation into a "larger conspiracy" is underway.

The bench observed, "We cannot understand this open-ended investigation. The co-accused have been granted bail. The petitioner has been in jail for 1 year and 2 months. This period was not enough to probe the larger conspiracy? How will indefinite detention help?"

The bench then proceeded to dictate its order, granting bail to the petitioner.