Case Law Details
Smruti Ranjan Mohanty Vs State of Odisha (Orissa High Court)
Bail cannot be refused as an indirect method of punishing the accused person before he is convicted. Furthermore, it has to be borne in mind that there is as such no justification for classifying offences into different categories such as economic offences and for refusing bail on the ground that the offence involved belongs to a particular category. It cannot, therefore, be said that bail should invariably be refused in cases involving serious economic offences. It is not in the interest of justice that the Petitioners should be in jail for an indefinite period. No doubt, the offence alleged against the Petitioners is a serious one in terms of alleged huge loss to the State exchequer, that, by itself, however, should not deter this Court from enlarging the Petitioners on bail when there is no serious contention of the Respondent that the Petitioners, if released on bail, would interfere with the trial or tamper with evidence.
9. Having regard to the entire facts and circumstances of the case, especially the fact that both the bread earning sons of a family have been in custody for over a year now I do not find any justification for detaining the Petitioners in custody for any longer. As a side note it observed that more and more such cases are brought to the fore where the mere pawns who have been used as a part of larger conspiracy of tax fraud have been brought under the dragnet by the prosecution. It is perhaps time that the prosecution will do well to follow the trail upstream and bring the “upstream” parties who are the ultimate beneficiaries who are the gainers in these evil machinations.
In view of the above discussion, it is directed that the Petitioners in both the BLAPLs be released on bail by the court in seisin over the matter in the aforesaid case on such terms and conditions as deemed fit and proper by him/ her with the following conditions:
(i) The Petitioners shall co-operate with the trial and shall not seek unnecessary adjournments on frivolous grounds to protract the trial;
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