The Supreme Court today directed the Delhi High Court to decide on the bail plea filed by Sukanya Mondal in relation to her arrest in a cattle smuggling case within three weeks after the court reopens following its summer break.
Daughter of Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal, Sukanya Mondal is also among the accused in the same case. A Vacation Bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Sandeep Mehta noted that Sukanya Mondal’s bail plea before the High Court has been pending for over ten months now.
Therefore, it passed an order for the speedy disposal of the case after the High Court’s summer vacation ends. The Supreme Court was hearing Sukanya Mondal’s appeal against a May 24 Delhi High Court order, in which a single-judge merely adjourned the matter till July 12 after releasing it from a part-heard batch of cases.
Sukanya Mondal’s appeal, filed through advocate Mrinal Kumar Sharma, stated that she has remained in jail for over a year now. The plea added that the said bail application has been pending before the High Court for more than 10 months and was listed for 22 dates. It further underlined that the Petitioner is a woman who falls within the exception provided in the first proviso to section 45(1) of the PMLA for the grant of bail.
Anubrata Mondal’s bail plea too is also pending before the Supreme Court. The Trinamool Congress leader was arrested in the case in August 2022. The matter involves allegations that cattle were illegally smuggled to Bangladesh by bribing Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.
It was also alleged that in order to enable the movement of the cattle through the districts of Birbhum and Murshidabad, a prime accused (one Md Enamul Haque) had obtained illegal favours from Anubrata Mondal, who was accused of using his influence to facilitate the crime and of receiving wrongful gains for his patronage.
Sukanya Mondal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with this case in April 2023 on allegations that she was unable to explain a huge increase in her assets.