ARVINDER PAL SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned counsel for the applicant; Sri Sanjay Kumar Singh for the informant; the learned AGA for the State; and perused the record. The present bail application has been filed by the applicant in case crime No. NIL of 2014, under Ss. 104/135 of Customs Act, police station Seema Sulk Sonauli, District - Maharajganj with the prayer to enlarge him on bail.

(2.) The prosecution case against the applicant is that of trying to smuggle 4 kgs of gold, packed in a laptop, into the Indian Territory. The submission of the learned counsel for the applicant is that the applicant has been apprehended by the Shasastra Seema Bal (SSB) even before the applicant had entered into the Indian Territory and the applicant was carrying gold bona fide and would have made a declaration of the same at the Customs Check Post. It has been submitted that the applicant is a person with no previous criminal history and the maximum sentence for the offence is seven years. It has next been submitted that the gold has already been seized. It has been submitted that the applicant is in jail since 22 -5 -2014 and, in case he is enlarged on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail.

(3.) Learned AGA as well as learned counsel for the informant has opposed the prayer for grant of bail and has pointed out that since the applicant was trying to bring gold from Nepal in a laptop it is suggestive of the fact that his intention was to smuggle the gold and not to make any declaration.