Page No.# 1/6 GAHC010219932025 2025:GAU-AS:13789 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : Bail Appln./3195/2025 SMTI. KHEHULI KIBAMI @ MADAM W/O- SRI HARDESH KUMAR. R/O- LAHORIJAN, NEAR NAYARA PETROL PUMP, P.S.- KHATKHATI, DIST.- KARBI ANGLONG, ASSAM. VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM REPRESENTED BY THE PP, ASSAM Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A CHAUDHURY, MR. D BORA,MR. N MAHAJAN,MR. P K DAS Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM, BEFORE HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE SHAMIMA JAHAN ORDER 15.10.2025 Heard Mr. B.K. Mahajan, learned counsel assisted by Mr. N. Mahajan learned counsel appearing for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. B. Sharma, learned Addl. Public Prosecutor appearing for the State of Assam. Page No.# 2/6 2. The instant application has been filed under Section 483 of the BNSS, 2023 for grant of bail to the petitioner in connection with Dillai P.S. Case No. 51/2025 registered under Section 20(b)(ii)(C)/25/29 of the ND&PS Act, 1985 read with Section 61(2)/123 of the BNS, 2023. 3. The FIR dated 16.09.2025 reveals that on a reliable information, a team of Police Officers conducted a checking and found a container truck bearing Registration No. RJ-18GB-0126 coming from Dimapur side on 16.09.2025 at around 8:30 am. The team of the Police Officers stopped the said vehicle and during physical checking found a secret chamber built behind the cabinet and on opening the same, found packets of contrabands. After complying with necessary formalities, the police arrested the driver and co-driver and produced them before the Court. During interrogation of the said arrested accused person, the police personnel learnt that the contraband has been loaded in Manipur and were transported towards Jaipur, Rajasthan and that one woman i.e., the petitioner has been escorting the said truck on the said day and on the basis of the said information, the petitioner was arrested. 4. Mr. B.K. Mahajan, learned counsel for the petitioner had argued violation of Section 48 of the BNSS, 2023. He submits that although notice under Section 47 of the BNSS, 2023 was issued to the petitioner but no notice to the relatives in writing under Section 48 of the BNSS, 2023 was issued as required under the Page No.# 3/6 law. He has placed the forwarding report, by which the petitioner was forwarded to the Court and in the same, it was stipulated that intimation was given to the relatives under Section 48 of BNSS by way of a WT Message. He has also placed the order dated 17.09.2025 passed by the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Bokajan, Karbi Anglong wherein, it was observed that WT Message was given to the husband of the accused person and that the Investigating Officer had also shown the certified copy of the entry made in the register informing the arrest, as required under Section 48(3) of the BNSS. He therefore submits that no written grounds of arrest have been furnished to the relatives of the petitioner under Section 48 of BNSS. 5. To substantiate his argument, he has placed the decision of the Hon’ble Apex Court passed in Vihaan Kumar Vs. State of Haryana and Anr., reported in 2025 SCC Online SC 269, by which the Hon’ble Apex Court had categorically stated that Written Grounds of Arrest has to be mandatorily supplied to the relatives of the accused person. 6. He further submitted that if any Grounds of Arrest were given in written form to the husband of the petitioner and the same was not received as stated by the learned Addl. Public Prosecutor, the police personnel should have taken recourse to Section 207 of the BNS, which provides that if any person refuses to accept the notice, he may be punished with the prescribed punishment. He has Page No.# 4/6 further submitted that there is a further recourse on the part of the Police Officer to report an offence that is committed under Section 239 of the BNS if such notice is not accepted by the person concerned. He as such submits that in absence of the averment that the notice in writing has been served upon the husband of the petitioner and that he has not received in the order of the Trial Court and without there being any action on the part of the Police Officer in terms of Sections 207 and 235 of BNS, the said ground that Grounds of Arrest has been served in writing to the husband of the petitioner may not be accepted. He as such submits that in absence of any Written Grounds of Arrest to the relatives of the petitioner, the arrest of the petitioner is vitiated and the petitioner is liable to be released on bail. 7. Per contra, Mr. B. Sharma, learned Addl. Public Prosecutor submits on the basis of the stipulation made in the Case Dairy that Written Grounds of Arrest has been served upon the husband of the petitioner and the same was not received by the husband and in pursuant to the same, the police had sent a WT Message to the husband of the petitioner informing him of the Grounds of Arrest of the petitioner. To substantiate the same, he had placed the notings in the Case Dairy.However, on a pointed query as to the presence of the Written Grounds of Arrest under Section 48 of BNSS in the Case Dairy, the learned Addl. Public Prosecutor could not place the same and placed a stipulation made in the Page No.# 5/6 Case Dairy, wherein, it was noted that copy of the Grounds of Arrest was placed before the Court with the records. He, as such, submits that the provisions under Section 48 of BNSS is complied with in the instant case as the same was refused initially by the husband of the petitioner and a WT Message was also sent to him. 8. I have heard the counsels and have gone through the records. 9. It is no res-integra that supply of the Grounds of Arrest in writing to the relatives of the accused is a mandatory requirement under law i.e., under Section 48 of BNSS, 2023 and violation thereof, entails immediate bail of the accused person. In the order of the Trial Court, it was written that WT Message was given to the husband of the petitioner informing him of the Grounds of Arrest and that the entry made in the register was also placed. However, it was stated that written Grounds of Arrest was given to the husband of the petitioner before the said WT Message was issued and that the husband of the petitioner had registered its acceptance. 10. It will not be out of context to mention herein that if someone does not accept notice issued by the competent authority, necessary actions will follow, which was again not taken recourse to by the authority concerned. 11. Although it was noted in the Case Dairy that Written Grounds of Arrest were served upon the husband of the petitioner and that he refused the same Page No.# 6/6 but the copy of the Written Grounds of Arrest could not be placed and the same did not find place in the Case Diary. 12. In view of the same, it is therefore held that Section 48 of BNSS, 2023 is not complied with in the instant case and the same resulted in vitiating the arrest of the petitioner. 13. As such, the petitioner may be released on bail on furnishing of a bail bond of Rs. 50,000/-(Rupees fifty thousand) with two (2) local sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of JMFC, Bokajan, Karbi Anglong under the following conditions: - 1) The petitioner shall cooperate with the investigation and shall appear before the JMFC, Bokajan, Karbi Anglong as and when called for. 2) The petitioner shall not tamper with the evidence or influence any of the witnesses. 3) The petitioner shall not leave the jurisdiction of the JMFC, Bokajan, Karbi Anglong without prior permission of the concerned Court. 14. The petition is disposed of. JUDGE Comparing Assistant