Enlargement on bail under PMLA for a woman accused; court relaxes twin conditions, grants bail with conditions

A woman accused detained for nearly one year was granted enlargement on regular bail in a PMLA matter after the court relaxed the statutory twin conditions to a limited extent. The court noted prior grant of bail in the predicate offence and, without deciding merits, directed release on bail subject to furnishing bonds and specified conditions: full cooperation with trial, presence at every hearing unless exempted, no influencing witnesses or tampering with evidence, and deposit of the passport with the trial court until further orders. The special leave petition was disposed of accordingly.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner is entitled to enlargement on regular bail in proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in ECIR No. JPZO/03/2023.

Analysis: The petitioner was in custody for approximately one year in connection with the PMLA prosecution arising from an alleged predicate offence concerning leakage of examination papers. The predicate offence matter had resulted in bail for the petitioner. The petition involves Sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA and the twin conditions prescribed by Section 45 of the PMLA. Given the petitioner is a woman and having regard to the factual matrix including the period of custody and the predicate-offence bail position, the Court considered that the twin conditions of Section 45 could be relaxed to some extent. The Court imposed standard supervisory conditions to secure attendance and safeguard the trial process, including cooperation with the trial, presence on hearing dates unless exempted, prohibition on influencing witnesses or tampering with evidence, and deposit of the passport with the Trial Court.

Conclusion: Petition allowed; petitioner enlarged on bail subject to furnishing bail bonds to the satisfaction of the Trial Court and subject to conditions: (i) full cooperation with the ongoing trial; (ii) presence in Court on each date of hearing unless prior exemption granted; (iii) no attempt to influence witnesses or tamper with evidence; (iv) deposit of passport with the Trial Court until further orders.

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