2007 (3) TMI 732

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....., for the Respondent. ORDER Heard Mr. Kantawala, learned Counsel for the applicant and Mrs. Kantharia, learned APP for respondent Nos. 1 and 2. The present applicant was arrested on 26-2-2007 by Special Investigation and Intelligence Branch (Imports), Mumbai in connection with smuggling of bonded stores meant for the vessels of Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy to the local market for ....

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....135(1)(ii) of Customs Act, which is held to be bailable by this Court in number of cases. In view of this, the applicant is entitled to be released on bail but this practice of making application for bail in bailable offence directly before the High Court without making such an application before the Competent Magistrate cannot be approved. 2. At this stage, Mr. Kantawala has brought to my....

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....ubhash Choudhari v. Deepak Jyala - 2005 (179) E.L.T. 532 (Bom.) this Court (Coram : A.M. Khanwilkar, J.) had considered the legal position minutely and had held that the offence under Section 135(1)(ii) of Customs Act is bailable. That authority was followed by another learned Single Judge (Coram : S.C. Dharmadhikari, J.) in Kuresh Taherbhai Rajkotwala v. Union of India and Ors. in Criminal Applic....