Kerala High Court
Ashif vs Union Of India on 28 January, 2025
Author: V Raja Vijayaraghavan
Bench: V Raja Vijayaraghavan
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V
&
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE P. V. BALAKRISHNAN
Tuesday, the 28th day of January 2025 / 8th Magha, 1946
CRL.A NO.275 OF 2024
CRL.M.P.NO.34/2024 IN SC 1/2024 IN RC.02/2023/NIA/KOC OF SPECIAL COURT FOR TRIAL
OF NIA CASES,ERNAKULAM
APPELLANTS/PETITIONER/ACCUSED NO.1:
ASHIF, AGED 35 YEARS,
S/O KHADEEJA, MATHILAKATH HOUSE, KETTUNGAL, VENKIDANGU,
THRISSUR, PIN - 680510.
RESPONDENTS/RESPONDENT/COMPLAINANT:
UNION OF INDIA
REPRESENTED BY INSPECTOR OF POLICE,
NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY,
KOCHI, PIN - 682020.
This Criminal appeal coming on for orders upon perusing the appeal
and upon hearing the arguments of M/S.M.A.AHAMMAD
SAHEER,E.A.HARIS,MUHAMMED YASIL, Advocates for the petitioner and of the
DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA for the respondent, the court passed the
following:
P.T.O.
RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V.,
&
P.V.BALAKRISHNAN, JJ.
-------------------------------
Criminal Appeal Nos.259, 275, 2271
& 2362 of 2024
-------------------------------
Dated this the 28th day of January, 2025
ORDER
Raja Vijayaraghavan V. J.
We have heard Sri. E.A.Haris, the learned counsel appearing for
the appellants in these cases and the learned DSGI.
2. Criminal Appeal No.259/2024 has been filed by the
appellant challenging the order dated 11.01.2024 in Crl.MP.No.8/2024
in R.C.No.02/2023/NIA/KOC, by which order, the learned Special Court
allowed the application submitted by the Investigating Officer for
providing digital copies of documents instead of paper copies along
with charge sheet.
3. Criminal Appeal No.275/2024 has been filed by the
appellant challenging the order passed by the Special Judge rejecting
the application submitted by the appellant for statutory bail.
4. Sri. E.A.Haris, the learned counsel, submits that the
appellant was arrested on 18.07.2023 and it was while he was in
judicial custody that an application was filed by the NIA before the
Trial Court for permitting them to produce digital copies of the charge
sheets along with the accompanying documents instead of physical
copies. This was to deny the grant of statutory bail to the appellant,
Criminal Appeal Nos.259, 275, 2271 & 2362 of 2024
2
contends the learned counsel. Without affording an opportunity to the
appellant to oppose the prayer and without hearing his counsel, the
said application was allowed by order dated 11.01.2024. The soft
copy of the final report was however not served on the appellant or
the other accused immediately thereafter.
5. An application for default bail was filed by the appellant
on 15.01.2024. However, the same was dismissed on the ground that
the final report had already been submitted. The contention of the
learned counsel is that the rejection of the application is illegal as it
cannot be held that the submission of the final report was in
accordance with the law.
6. The learned counsel asserts that the Investigation
Officer had in fact submitted the soft copy to be handed over to the
accused only on 19.01.2024. The appellant was served the copy only
on 31.01.2024 and it was only, thereafter, the final report was
accepted by the court, and the case was taken cognisance and
numbered as S.C.No.1/2024. The learned counsel contends that in
view of the law laid down in Tarun Tyagi v. Central Bureau Of
Investigation1, Jisal Rasak v. State Of Kerala2, Narendra
1
2017 SCC 4 490
2
2019 SCC ONLINE KER 3164
Criminal Appeal Nos.259, 275, 2271 & 2362 of 2024
3
Kumar Amin v. Central Bureau Of Investigation & Ors3, P.
Gopalkrishnan @ Dileep vs. The State of Kerala4, Sunil
Vasantrao Phulbande v. State Of Maharashtra5, Achpal Alias
Ramswaroop And Another v. State Of Rajasthan6, Varghese
Kuruvila v. State of Kerala 7, State of Kerala v. Muneer8 the
acceptance of the soft copy as a substitute for the physical copy and
the rejection of the application for statutory bail is illegal.
7. In view of the contentions raised, we are of the view
that a report can be called for from the Special Court seeking
information on the following aspects.
a) The date on which the accused was remanded to judicial
custody and the date on which 180 days from the date of
remand had expired?
b) Whether all the counsel appearing for the accused were
heard before orders were passed in Crl.M.P.No.8/2024 in
R.C.No.02/2023/NIA/KOC.
c) The date on which the final report under Section 173(2)(i) of
3
2015 AIR SC 1002
4
2019 SCC ONLINE SC 1532
5
2002 SCC ONLINE BOM 153
6
2019 SCC 14 599
7
2024 KHC Online 849
8
2021(1) KHC 697
Criminal Appeal Nos.259, 275, 2271 & 2362 of 20244
the Code of Criminal Procedure in physical form was
submitted before the Special Court?
d) The date on which cognisance was taken by the Court below?
Before or after taking cognisance, whether a copy of the Final
Report under Section 173(2)(i) was served on the accused?
e) When was the copy of the report under Section 173(2)(i) of
the Code of Criminal Procedure actually served on the
accused? Whether it was in physical form or as a soft copy?
f) Roughly, the total number of pages in the police report and
the documents that are to be statutorily provided under
Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Post on 31.01.2025.
Sd/-
RAJA VIJAYARAGHAVAN V.
JUDGE
Sd/-
P.V.BALAKRISHNAN
Bng JUDGE
28-01-2025 /True Copy/ Assistant Registrar
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