Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir-Ladakh High Court granted bail to four accused from Anantnag in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch manager kidnapping and assault case. The incident occurred at the Achabal police station in July this year. Police had registered a case and arrested the accused.
Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani, delivering a detailed 24-page order on Tuesday, October 27, stated that there was no reasonable ground to believe that the accused were guilty of crimes punishable with life imprisonment or death under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 2023.
The accused include Manzoor Ahmed Ghani, Mohammad Afroz Ghani, Mubarak Ahmed Ghani, and Imtiaz Ahmed Ghani. All four are residents of Kanganhal village in Anantnag district, South Kashmir. The case was registered at the Achabal police station on July 29, 2025.
According to the prosecution, four men stopped the car of Saqib Ahmed Nazar, branch manager of J&K Bank Tilwani Achabal, at around 8 p.m., dragged him out, assaulted him, and abducted him along with his car, allegedly with the intention of harming him and spreading terror in the area.
Police claimed that the bank manager was later recovered from the home of accused Manzoor Ahmed Ghani, and his red Swift car was seized from the premises. The accused denied the allegations, arguing that they had been falsely and absurdly implicated. Their lawyer, Advocate Aswad Attar, argued that the police’s story was fabricated and baseless.
The complainant, as a bank official, had abused his position by making false promises of business loans to people and then implicating them in false cases. The defense argued that there was no reasonable ground for his involvement to warrant a legal stay on bail.
Considering the petitioners’ arguments, Justice Wani stated that they had been in custody since August and that their detention was no longer necessary. The court stated, “Merely describing an offense as punishable by death or life imprisonment is not sufficient to invoke the restriction imposed by Section 480(1)(i) of the BNSS, in consonance with Section 437(1) of the Code.”
The court further stated that “the liberty of an individual, which is an invaluable value of our constitutional system, cannot be curtailed merely by naming the offense without any concrete and supporting evidence.” Granting bail, Justice Wani directed that each accused furnish a personal bond of Rs. 100,000 and two sureties of Rs. 50,000 each from among their close relatives to the satisfaction of the Judicial Registrar of the High Court and the concerned jail superintendent. The judge also imposed strict conditions on the accused.
