The Esplanade Court in Mumbai granted bail to a 24-year-old man accused of smuggling gold, citing “inadequate arrest” procedures by the customs department. The accused was arrested earlier in the day after officials claimed to have recovered three capsules of gold dust worth ₹1.10 crore from him.
According to customs officials, the man confessed during interrogation, stating that someone handed him the gold in the airport’s transit passage, and he was supposed to deliver it to a contact outside the airport. “Since we found no one else outside, we proceeded with the arrest,” an official explained. Authorities were investigating further to identify other possible connections in the smuggling racket.
However, during the court hearing, the accused’s lawyer, Advocate Prabhakar Tripathi, argued that the arrest was flawed.
“The family of the accused was not informed, and the grounds of arrest were not made clear. This violates the mandatory provisions under Sections 47 and 48 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the constitutional safeguard under Article 22(1). Every citizen has the fundamental right to be informed of the grounds of arrest and to legal representation,” Tripathi stated.
The customs department had sought 14-day judicial custody, but the court granted bail, citing the procedural lapses. The bail was set at ₹25,000, with the court emphasizing the importance of adhering to due process in such cases.
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