GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court overturned a lower court order granting bail to IAS officer Talo Potom, named in a 19-year-old’s suicide notes last year.
Potom, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, was serving as the Special Secretary (PWD), Government of Delhi, when he was arrested last year.
He was released from judicial custody within seven days of his arrest.
In an order, Justice Yarenjungla Longkumer of the High Court’s Itanagar Bench directed that Potom, facing the charge of abetment to suicide, be immediately taken into custody.
The bench criticised the Court of District and Sessions Judge, Yupia, for granting bail to the accused “without proper application of mind.”
The father of the deceased had filed a criminal petition in the High Court under Section 483(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita praying for quashing of the bail.
Earlier, a case was registered by the police based on an FIR lodged by the father of the deceased. He said his son, found dead at his rented accommodation at Lekhi village in Papum Pare district on October 23 last year, had in his suicide notes held Potom and senior engineer Likwang Lowang of “sexually exploiting” and harassing him for a long time. The deceased had further written that “prolonged humiliation, coercion and threats” made him take the extreme step.
The FIR accused the two officials of abetment to suicide, sexual exploitation, mental harassment, and corruption. Hours after the FIR was filed, Lowang, who worked at the state’s Rural Works Department, shot himself dead.
In its order, the single-judge bench said it was of the view that relevant materials were totally ignored by the trial court and that, the findings recorded were contrary to the settled principles of law governing the grant of bail.
The bench said the trial court had completely failed to take into account the pertinent factors that the offence had shocked the collective conscience of the society.
“No doubt, cancellation of bail granted by a court cannot be permitted in a routine manner. However, the law does permit quashing of a bail order that is unjustified, perverse, or passed without taking into consideration material facts,” the bench said in its order.
The order further stated that the release of an influential person like the IAS officer at a nascent stage of investigation, when there was a clear prima facie case against him, would have derailed the investigation process.