Czech duo get bail with riders - - Prosecution told to file report on August 12

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Svacha (right) and Kucera enter the Darjeeling court on Friday. Picture by Suman Tamang Darjeeling, July 25: Czech scientist Petr Svacha and his associate Emil Kuchera were today granted interim bail by the court of the chief judicial magistrate after they spent more than a month in Darjeeling Correctional Home on charges of illegally collecting beetles and other insects from Singalila National Park. “The duo are fine and were released from the correctional home around 4.30pm. They have been put up in a hotel in Darjeeling,” said Bdayn Gurung, a defence lawyer. Another defence lawyer, Seshmani Gurung, said: “Our clients have been granted interim bail on the condition that they will not travel out of the Darjeeling subdivision without the court’s permission and that they will report to the investigating officer twice a week. Their passport will be in the custody of forest officials until the prosecution report is filed.” The prosecution can take up to 60 days from the date of the arrest to file the report. However, in this case, the judge has directed that it should be filed on August 12. The Czechs were arrested from a lodge near Rimbick, about 80km from Darjeeling town, on June 22, with a large cache of beetles and insects. The hearing of their bail plea was postponed more than once because of a ceasework by hill lawyers and a strike by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in all government offices, including courts, across Darjeeling. Govind Chhetri, the assistant public prosecutor, said: “The court today examined the passports and other items of the Czechs that had been seized. The interim bail has been granted taking into consideration the age of the accused, the period of detention and the hardship regarding food habits in the jail.” The scientist and his associate were not produced before the CJM today though they were brought to the court in the morning. When told about the bail, Svacha said: “We are relieved. I would like to categorically state that we have not been mistreated by anyone, be it jail officials or even the inmates.”