2024 (5) TMI 545

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....t, 2017 read with section 20(XV) of IGST Act, 2017, pending in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana. 2. Learned senior counsel submits that the petitioner has been falsely involved in the complaint case captioned above, which has been filed by the respondents on 06.03.2023. He further contends that in the present case, the petitioner was arrested on 07.01.2023 under Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 and, thereafter, the present complaint was instituted against him. However, it has been wrongly alleged that the petitioner was involved in the fraudulent passing of Input Tax Credit without actual supply of goods in order to facilitate fraudulent availment of Input Tax Credit in violation of the provisions of CGST Act. In reality, t....

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....il. The object of bail is neither punitive nor preventative. Deprivation of liberty must be considered a punishment, unless it can be required to ensure that an accused person will stand his trial when called upon. The courts owe more than verbal respect to the principle that punishment begins after conviction, and that every man is deemed to be innocent until duly tried and duly found guilty. From the earliest times, it was appreciated that detention in custody pending completion of trial could be a cause of great hardship. From time to time, necessity demands that some un-convicted persons should be held in custody pending trial to secure their attendance at the trial but in such cases, 'necessity' is the operative test. In this c....

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....ld be imposed after trial and conviction, both under the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act. Otherwise, if the former is the only test, we would not be balancing the Constitutional Rights but rather "recalibration of the scales of justice." The provisions of Criminal Procedure Code confer discretionary jurisdiction on Criminal Courts to grant bail to accused pending trial or in appeal against convictions, since the jurisdiction is discretionary, it has to be exercised with great care and caution by balancing valuable right of liberty of an individual and the interest of the society in general. In our view, the reasoning adopted by the learned District Judge, which is affirmed by the High Court, in our opinion, a denial of th....

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....he petitioner is yet to be decided by the trial Court during the course of trial. Still further, the petitioner was arrested in the present case on 07.01.2023 and the maximum sentence provided under the statute is five years. Still further, the case of the prosecution is based on the testimonies of official witnesses and the petitioner may not be in a position to influence the witnesses, who are to be produced by the prosecution before the trial Court. Even otherwise, the petitioner cannot be confined in jail as an under-trial for an indefinite period. 7. In view of the above, without commenting any further on the merits, the present petition is allowed and the petitioner is ordered to be released on bail on his furnishing bail bonds/suret....