Tulsi Sinha Roy v. State Of West Bengal

15.06.2026 Court No.28 Item No.290 tkm CRM (A) 1495 of 2026 In Re: - An application for anticipatory bail under Section 482 of the Bharatiya Suraksha Nagarik Sanhita in connection with Bidhannagar North Police Station Case No.73 of 2026 dated 19.05.2026 under Sections 308(2)/111(2) of BNS And In the matter of: Tulsi Sinha Roy .... Petitioner Allowed Mr. Moyukh Mukherjee Mr. Soumya Nag Ms. S Banerjee ...for the petitioner Mr. Krishnendu Bhattacharya Mr. Kaushtav Lal Mukherjee ...for the State

1. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is a lady advocate. She was a former President of the Bidhannagar Bar Association and Mayor-in-Council in the Bidhannagar Municipality. She owed allegiance to the present opposition party in the State. Immediately after the last election, people had been coming to her house and giving out threats. For this, she was constrained to lodge complaints before the police on 8.5.2026 and 12.5.2026. However, no FIR was registered. Subsequently, on 19.5.2026, the present FIR was registered alleging that there was extortion done on the hawkers at the behest of the petitioner. Section 111 of the BNS would not be applicable even prima facie, as there is no previous charge-sheet against the petitioner on which cognizance has been taken. Reliance is placed on ExplanationII to section 111 of the BNSS.

2. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor relies on case diary and opposes the prayer for anticipatory bail. He also refers to the

memo of evidence which shows that subsequent to the initiation of the present case, another criminal case was registered against the petitioner. The husband of the petitioner has already been arrested in this case. Reliance is placed on statements of witnesses, including those of the victim hawkers. It appears that money was collected by others from these hawkers at the behest of the petitioner.

3. The applicability of section 111 of the BNS would be tested before a competent court. However, considering the materials available in the case diary and the fact that the petitioner is a lady, I do not think custodial interrogation of the petitioner is required in this case and I am inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner.

4. Accordingly, the application for anticipatory bail of the petitioner is allowed.

5. In the event of arrest, the petitioner shall be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs.10,000/- with two sureties of like amount each, one of whom must be local, to the satisfaction of the Arresting Officer and also be subject to the conditions as laid down under Section 438(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 corresponding to Section 482(2) of the BNSS, 2023 and shall cooperate with the investigation and shall not threaten or intimidate the witnesses and shall surrender her passport before the jurisdictional court forthwith and shall not leave the country without prior permission of the jurisdictional court.

6. Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of requisite formalities.

(Jay Sengupta, J.)