Mumbai, Nov 5 A Mumbai court on Thursday granted bail to Ukrainian actor Armen Ataian, arrested early last year for allegedly procuring a forged birth certificate to claim Indian citizenship, holding that his status as a foreign national alone cannot be a ground to deny him relief.
The question regarding the genuineness of the birth certificate and his claim of having been born in India require proper examination during the trial, said the court of Additional Sessions Judge Satyanarayan R Navander.
He ordered the release of Ataian on a personal recognisance (PR) bond of Rs 25,000 with one or two sureties in the like amount and noted his further custodial detention was not necessary for the purpose of investigation.
“However, the mere fact that the applicant is a foreign national cannot, by itself, be a ground to deny him bail,” the court observed and ordered him not to leave India without its prior permission.
Judge Navander, in his order, asserted that the remaining verification of official records linked to the document can be carried out without Ataian’s continued incarceration.
According to the prosecution, the Bhoiwada police in Mumbai registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Ataian on February 14, 2025, under BNS sections related to cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.
The actor has been in custody since February 19, 2025.
Appearing for the accused, advocate Akram Kapoor argued that Ataian was born in Mumbai in 1976 when his parents resided in the metropolis between 1975 and 1978.
Pleading for bail for his client, Kapoor submitted that the actor had been living in India for several years, had no intention to cheat anyone, and that his custodial interrogation was no longer required.
Special Public Prosecutor Taralgatti opposed the plea, contending that although Ataian holds a Ukrainian passport, he attempted to obtain documents to establish Indian citizenship under suspicious circumstances.
The prosecution argued that the genuineness of the birth certificate and his actual place of birth were still under investigation.
After perusing the chargesheet, the court noted that witness statements and material collected during the probe lend support to the claim that Ataian’s parents lived in Mumbai from 1975 to 1978 and that he may have been born in the city.
It, however, pointed out that the official records are yet to be conclusively verified.
“Having regard to the nature of the allegations and the material already collected during the investigation, his further custodial detention does not appear to be necessary for the purpose of investigation,” the court held.
Addressing the prosecution’s apprehension that the actor might flee the country, the court directed Ataian to deposit his original passport with the investigating officer prior to his release from jail.
(PTI News)
