ASHISH SINGHA Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Apprehending arrest in connection with Baishnabnagar Police Station Case No. 397 of 2020 dated 04.08.2020 under Sections 147/148/149/325/332/353/435/427 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 3 of he Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Section 9 of the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, the petitioners have filed the instant application for anticipatory bail.

(2.) It is a matter of great concern that the citizens of this country took the law in their own hands and vandalized not only the Police Officers while discharging their duties but also the public property. The Police Officers intercepted a person ferrying the sacred bull for performing the rituals and more than 100 people encircled the Police Station/Post to create a ruckus pressurizing the Police Officers to succumb to their unreasonable demand and refrain from discharging their statutory functions. The petitioners are the accomplices who accompanied such hooligans and according to the learned Advocate for the State they damaged public property i.e. the Police Post. The Police Officers suffered injuries and their statements have already been recorded disclosing the names of some of the people who are known to them. The names of the petitioners are evidently present in the statement of the Police Officers though their specific role has not been ascribed therein.

(3.) In recent times a tendency has developed in the society that if any action is taken by a Public Officer in pursuit of discharge of his duty, the mass gatherings are eminently done not only to create a pressure upon them to desist them from discharging their pious duties but also to avoid any action to be taken by such Public Officers. Even sometime public properties are damaged and they do not owe any responsibility nor there is any mechanism for accountability towards the burden on the public exchequer. They appeared to have escaped easily as no overt act has been disclosed because of the large gatherings of the people and sometimes it is projected as an act of defence in the trial. Time has come that every dutiful citizen of the country must realize their duties and accountability to the society and must refrain from taking the law in their own hands. The destruction of the public property has a ramification on the society and the taxpayers are burdened for no fault on their part. The charging sections would evince that not only the Public Officers but the public properties have also been destroyed.