IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE N.K.BALAKRISHNAN MONDAY, THE 19TH SEPTEMBER 2011 / 28TH BHADRA 1933 Bail Appl..No. 7356 of 2011() ----------------------------- CRIME NO.28/2004 OF KUTTANAD EXCISE RANGE PETITIONERS/ACCUSED NOS.1 & 2 : --------------------------------------- 1. A.K.GOPI, AGED 51 YEARS, S/O.KUTTAPPAN, EZHUPATHIL CHIRA, THAYANKARY P.O., EDATHUA, ALAPPUZHA DISTRICT. 2. THANKAMANI, AGED 49 YEARS, W/O.A.K.GOPI, EZHUPATHIL CHIRA, THAYANKARY P.O., EDATHUA, ALAPPUZHA DISTRICT. BY ADV. SRI.S.SHANAVAS KHAN RESPONDENT(S): COMPLAINANT -------------------------- THE STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT OF KERALA, ERNAKULAM. PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SRI.V.MANU THIS BAIL APPLICATION HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 19/09/2011, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING: N.K.BALAKRISHNAN, J. --------------------------- B.A.No.7356 of 2011 --------------------------- Dated this the 19th day of September, 2011 O R D E R Petitioners are the accused in Crime No.28 of 2004 of Kuttanad Excise Range. The crime was registered alleging offence under Section 8(1) and (2) of the Abkari Act. 2. The allegation is that the accused were found keeping possession of 3.5 litres of arrack in a 5 litre can in the kitchen of the shop conducted by the petitioners. The case was detected on 24.8.2004. Nobody was arrested on that day. This petition is for pre-arrest bail. Normally, it will not be proper to grant pre-arrest bail to the persons who committed offence under the Abkari Act. It is submitted that quantity of the liquor alleged to have been seized is 3.5 litres. Detection was had more than seven years ago. It is not known why the Excise Officials kept the file for about seven years without taking further action. There is no case for the Excise Officials that the petitioners were absconding or evading arrest all these BA 7356/2011 2 years. 3. The learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners have been residing in the very same locality and they are running a petty tea shop also in the locality. 4. Considering the long delay in not filing the final report/taking action for arresting the accused, I am inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the accused, but on the following conditions: (i) If the petitioners surrender before the jurisdictional Magistrate within seven days from today, they shall be released on bail on their executing a bond for ` 25,000/- each with two solvent sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the learned Magistrate. The learned Magistrate will ensure the identity of the sureties by getting the attested photocopy of the title deeds of the tax receipts produced by the sureties. BA 7356/2011 3 (ii) The petitioners shall appear before the Excise Inspector, Kuttanad on all the Wednesdays between 9 A.M. and 11 A.M. until further orders. (iii) The petitioners shall not get themselves involved in any such similar case. The Bail Application is allowed as above. N.K.BALAKRISHNAN JUDGE csl