Ramkrishna Dutta v. State Of West Bengal And ANR

20.04.2023 Sl. No.42 akd [Rejected] C. R. M. (DB) 1591 of 2023 In Re: An application for bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure filed on 12.04.2023 in connection with Berhampore Police Station Case No.1624 of 2022 dated 04.12.2022 under Sections 370/376/372/373/120B of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 4/8/12/17 of the POCSO Act and Sections 3/4/5/7 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.

And In Re: Ramkrishna Dutta ... ... Petitioner Mr. Robiul Islam Ms. Pramita Banerjee ... ... for the petitioner Mr. Rudradipta Nandy .. ld. Addl. Public Prosecutor Ms. Zareen N. Khan Ms. Mayukhi Mitra ... ... for the State It is submitted on behalf of the petitioner that he is in custody for about 157 days. It is further submitted petitioner is a mere employee in the hotel. Accordingly, he prays for bail. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor opposes the prayer for bail and submits petitioner played the role in trafficking women for sexual exploitation.

We have considered the materials on record. Case involves trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. Statements of witnesses implicate the petitioner in the crime. Co-accused, who is a customer, has been released on bail. Petitioner does not stand on the same footing with the said co-accused. Under such circumstances and in view of gravity of the offence, we are not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner at this stage.

The application for bail is thus rejected.

(Ajay Kumar Gupta, J.) (Joymalya Bagchi, J.)