Nothing to show Malik's family created bogus papers for visa extension: Court

Prima facie there is nothing to show former Maharashtra minister Nawab Maliks son Faraz and his French wife Laura Hemelin alias Ayesha had committed the offence of cheating and creating bogus documents held a Mumbai court while granting anticipatory bail to the couple in a criminal case related to her visa extensionNoting the Mumbai police had already drawn a premature conclusion to apprehend the couple the court in a detailed order made available on Wednesday observed arrest has far reaching consequences whose impact is felt not just by the accused but also their family members throughout their livesAdditional sessions judge M G Deshpande granted prearrest bail to Faraz Malik and Hemelin on January 23 in the case related to alleged submission of forged documents for the latters visa extensionAlso readMissing MBBS student case lsquoSingh passed narco test because of alcoholrsquoThe couple in their plea claimed to be a victim of fraud at the hands of an agent Vijay Kumar Rai who they had appointed for getting a marriage certificate It is claimed Rai has cheated 18 more people besides Faraz Malik and his wife a French nationalThe court in its order noted Rai was arrested for using fake stamps of officials for issuing various certificates to people and was currently out on bailWhatever marriage certificate applicants Faraz Malik and his wife Hemelin had received had been procured by Vijay Kumar Rai Therefore prima facie nothing reflects that the applicants had indulged in offence of cheating and creating bogus documents the judge statedReferring to a ground cited by the police for opposing the couples plea for anticipatory bail the judge said it prima facie indicates the Investigating officer IO has already formed an opinion and intended to arrest both applicants and then seek their custody from the courtThere is absolutely nothing to indicate how and why he IO has arrived at the conclusion to arrest both accused the court saidAll this further indicates the IO has not given any consideration to Supreme Court guidelines for arresting an accused and straight away jumped to the conclusion that he has to arrest the couple and seek their police custody the judge notedIn my opinion this is a jumping and premature conclusion he addedThe court was of the opinion that the grounds put forth by the IO to oppose the application and for its rejection is not satisfactory and genuineArrest has far reaching consequences which not only the arrested persons but also their families have to face throughout their life Hence I am of the opinion that both applicants have made out the prima facie case to protect them under section 438 of the CrPC the court observedSection 438 of the CrPC Code of Criminal Procedure deals with direction for grant of bail to a person apprehending arrestOn January 18 a case was registered at the suburban Kurla police station following a complaint lodged by an officer working with the special branch of the Mumbai policeAccording to the police Hemelin 33 had submitted forged documents while applying to convert her tourist visa into a longterm visaThereafter an FIR first information report was lodged against the couple under sections 420 cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property 465 forgery 468 forgery for purpose of cheating and 34 common intent of the Indian Penal Code and section 14 penalty for contravention of provisions of the Foreigners ActThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever