Court dismisses bail plea
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 04 2026: The Court of Session Judge, Imphal West, today dismissed the anticipatory bail application of Athokpam Gokulchandra, a Manipuri film actor and an Inspector at the Directorate of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

An FIR was filed against Gokulchandra (45), son of Subhas of Thangmeiband Hijam Leikai, who is currently residing at Langjing Achouba Maning Leikai by his father- in-law.

The charges include serious allegations, including attempted murder of his wife on February 23, punishable under Section 109(1) .

During the hearing, the Court noted that the investigating officer (IO) had gathered evidence, including an injury report and CCTV footage.

The injury suffered by the victim was found to be simple in nature and was caused by blunt force (hands and legs) .

As a result, the charge under Section 109(2) (attempted murder) was accordingly dropped, and the charge under Section 117(2) (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) was amended to Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) .

The Court also observed that the only non-bailable sections in the FIR were Section 74 (assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and Section 85 BNS (punishment for subjecting a married woman to cruelty) .

While the petitioner was granted interim anticipatory bail on February 24, the IO's report revealed that the petitioner was arrested earlier that morning.

The Court concluded that, as the petitioner had already been arrested before the application was filed, the anticipatory bail application was no longer maintainable and, therefore, dismissed the application without addressing the merits of the case.

The interim relief granted by the same Court on February 24 has also been vacated.

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