Page No.# 1/7 GAHC040006012025 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) (ITANAGAR BENCH) Case No. : AB/48/2025 Tagru Anand Son of Late Tagru Tari, resident of Village Neomi, Po and PS Tali, Kra Daadi District, Arunachal Pradesh. VERSUS The State of AP through the PP of AP Advocate for the Petitioner : Regum Nabam, Rima Taipodia,Nabam Saha,A Linggi Advocate for the Respondent : P P of AP, Priya Lomdak,Lipi Niri,A Bodo BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE KARDAK ETE ORDER Date : 23-04-2025 Heard Mr. R. Nabam, learned counsel for the applicant. Also heard Mr. D. Loyi, learned Public Prosecutor for the State and Mr. A. Bodo, learned counsel for the complainant. 2. By filing this application under Section 482 BNSS, 2023, the accused applicant seeks privilege of pre-arrest bail in connection with Palin P.S. Page No.# 2/7 Case No.08/2025, registered under Section 109(1)/118(2)/3(5) of BNS, 2023 r/w Section 27(1) of the Arms Act, 1959. 3. The case leading to filing of the present application is that on 27.03.2025 at 2030 hours, a written FIR was lodged before the Palin Police Station by one Shri Tagru Tame, son of Tagru Tajak of Magnia village in Kra Daadi District to the effect that on 26.03.2025, at around 0800 to 0900 hours, 22 (twenty two) persons (named in the FIR, including the present accused applicant) had forcefully entered the land at Neomi village at Tali Administrative area owned by the victims. The accused persons had entered the land with loaded guns and machetes and attacked the victims by firing the gun and using machetes, as a result of which, the 6(six) victims have suffered and sustained grievous injuries on their bodies. 4. Upon receipt of the above FIR, the case being Palin P.S. Case No.08/2025, under Section 109(1)/118(2)/3(5) of BNS, 2023 r/w Section 27(1) of the Arms Act, 1959 has been registered. 5. This Court on 11.04.2025 has granted interim bail to the accused applicant. Accordingly, the accused applicant appeared before the Investigating Officer and recorded his statements. On such appearance, the accused applicant was arrested and released on interim bail in terms of the order dated 11.04.2025. 6. Mr. R. Nabam, learned counsel for the accused applicant submits that the present accused applicant himself is the victim of the incident as he has also received grievous injuries for which the accused applicant was Page No.# 3/7 first evacuated to R. K. Mission Hospital at Itanagar, and then to St. Luke’s Hospital at Dibrugarh, Assam where the accused applicant had undergone his medical treatment and is still under medication. He submits that the incident had occurred due to the long standing land dispute between the petitioner’s family (descendants of Abu Rinah) and the residents of Magnia village. He submits that the accused applicant is not involved in the alleged incident and the allegation of his participation in the alleged attack is false. He submits that the accused applicant, in fact, happened to visit the place of occurrence so as to persuade the parties to maintain status quo of the land as decided 2(two) years back. Therefore, there is no involvement of the present accused applicant in the alleged attack with the victims/complainant. 7. Mr. R. Nabam, learned counsel further submits that pursuant to the interim bail granted by this Court, the accused applicant had appeared before the Investigating Officer and recorded his statement. The accused applicant is co-operating and further ready to cooperate with the investigation. Therefore, the accused applicant, namely, Shri Tagru Anand may be extended privilege of pre-arrest bail. 8. Mr. D. Loyi, learned Public Prosecutor for the State referring to the materials on the case diary has submitted that the present accused applicant has been arrested, interrogated and recorded his statement under Section 180 (3) of BNSS, 2023 and subsequently, released in terms of the interim bail granted by this court. He submits that material also indicates that the present accused applicant had also sustained severe injuries on his body during the alleged commission of the offence, and Page No.# 4/7 counter FIR has also been filed subsequent to the present FIR by the accused applicant. He further submits that as per the Investigating Officer, the accused applicant is fully co-operating with the investigation by appearing before the Investigating Officer as and when asked to do so. Therefore, custodial interrogation of the accused applicant is not required, at this stage. 9. Mr. A. Bodi, learned counsel representing the complainant, while seriously objecting the grant of bail to the accused applicant, submits that 6(six) victims have sustained serious/grievous injuries on their bodies as a result of firing and use of machetes during the indiscriminate attack against the victims by family members of the accused applicant including himself. He submits that some of the victims are still in critical condition, one of the victims is in ICU and one of the victims has lost both the feet. Therefore, he submits that since there is a clear involvement of the accused applicant and 21 others in the alleged incident of brutal assault by using arms and machetes, the accused applicant is not entitled to be released on bail. 10. I have considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and also perused the case diary. 11. It is noticed that the incident has arisen out of the land dispute between the family members of the accused applicant and the villagers of Magnia village. It is seen that the accused applicant along with his family members had entered into the disputed land and prima facie appears to have used fire arms and machetes when there was attack and counter Page No.# 5/7 attack between the parties. On consideration of the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, it appears that both the sides i.e. the complainant/victims as well as accused side appears to have received injuries to their bodies during the attack and counter-attack by using fire arms and machetes. 12. Although, the learned counsel for the complainant submits that some of the victims are in the critical condition, under treatment in ICU and one having lost some parts of his body because of the attack by the accused persons, the same is not supported by any documents. Unless the same is brought on record or in the case diary, it is difficult to accept such submissions. 13. The Investigating Agency has taken the investigation which appears to be in right earnest. Perusal of the case diary indicates that the accused applicant has been interrogated and recorded his statement. The accused applicant also appears to have sustained grievous injuries and FIR has also been filed subsequent to the present case by the accused applicant. 14. It is also noticed that the Investigating Officer has stated that the accused application is fully cooperating with the investigation by appearing before the Investigating Officer as and when called for and as such, custodial interrogation of the accused applicant is not required, at this stage and he has assured to abide by all the conditions. 15. Having considered the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and on perusal of the materials available on record, as noted Page No.# 6/7 above, although both the parties have sustained serious injuries as a result of the attack and counter-attack using fire arms and machetes which appears to be serious in nature, this Court is of considered view that the present accused applicant deserves to be extended privilege of pre-arrest bail, particularly for the reason that the Investigating Officer has clearly stated that custodial interrogation of the accused applicant is not required. 16. In view of the above, the accused applicant, namely, Shri Tagru Anand is admitted to privilege of pre-arrest bail in connection with Palin P.S. Case No.08/2025 registered under Section 109(1)/118(2)/3(5) of BNS, 2023 r/w Section 27(1) of the Arms Act, 1959. Accordingly, the interim bail order dated 11.04.2025 is hereby made absolute with the following conditions:- 1. That the accused applicant shall cooperate with the investigation and appear before the Investigating Officer as and when called for; 2. That the accused applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts either to the Police Officer or to the Court; and. 3. That the accused applicant shall not visit Neomi Village without prior permission of the Investigating Officer. 17. It is made clear that any observation made above is only for the purpose of consideration of the present bail application. 18. In terms of the above, the anticipatory bail application stands allowed Page No.# 7/7 and disposed of. Return the case diary. JUDGE Comparing Assistant