Allahabad High Court
Keshav Kumar @ Chhunnu vs State Of Uttar Pradesh on 10 August, 2021
Bench: Sanjay Kumar Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 72
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 21685 of 2021
Applicant :- Keshav Kumar @ Chhunnu
Opposite Party :- State Of Uttar Pradesh
Counsel for Applicant :- Himanshu Srivastava,Ram Kesh,Saroj Kumar Dubey
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Singh,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned Additional Government Advocate representing the State and perused the record of the case.
The instant bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant with a prayer to release him on bail in Case Crime No. 307 of 1998, S.T. No. 1841 of 1999, under Sections 148, 302/149, 323/149 I.P.C., Police Station-Kotwali Hapur, District-Ghaziabad, during the pendency of trial.
The brief facts of the case, as disclosed by learned counsel for the applicant, are that in this case F.I.R. was lodged on 19.06.1998 regarding an incident which took place in the intervening night of 18/19.06.1998 against six accused persons, namely, Santosh, Rajesh, Keshav Kumar @ Chhunnu (applicant) Manoj, Nitin and Sunder. During investigation applicant was granted bail. Charge sheet was submitted in this case on 15.10.1998 and thereafter case was committed to the court of session on 26.11.1999. Charges were framed against the accused persons on 02.03.2002 and applicant appeared before the trial court upto 10.06.2004, thereafter applicant and other accused persons did not turn up. On 07.07.2004, their bail bonds were cancelled and non bailable warrants were issued against the applicant, which was challenged by the applicant in Criminal Misc. Application U/S 482 Cr.P.C. No. 6390 of 2004 before this Court, in which vide order dated 27.07.2004 operation of the order dated 07.07.2004 was stayed till 22.09.2004. Learned counsel for the applicant could not point out that whether the said order dated 27.07.2004 was further extended or not. It appears that pursuant to above order dated 27.07.2004 the proceeding of the trial court was held up as the applicant was absconding and no information was given by the applicant to the trial court regarding further orders passed in Criminal Misc. Application U/S 482 Cr.P.C. No. 6390 of 2004 to the trial court. Applicant was deliberately avoiding his appearance before the trial court despite several orders, therefore, by order dated 01.06.2019 non bailable warrant was issued against the applicant considering the judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Pvt. Ltd. & another Vs. C.B.I., 2018 SCC Online SC 310. Thereafter applicant surrendered on 20.03.2021 and his bail application was rejected by the trial court on 01.04.2021. It is submitted by learned counsel for the applicant that non-appearance of the applicant before the trial court was not deliberate as the applicant had no knowledge about the orders passed by the trial court, therefore, he is entitled to be released on bail.
Per contra, learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for bail of the applicant by contending that applicant was absconding since July 2004 and surrendered on 20.03.2021 i.e. after more than 16 and half years and trial of the applicant was held up on account of non-appearance of the applicant. Therefore, bail application of the applicant is liable to be rejected.
After having heard the arguments of learned counsel for the parties, I find that applicant was absconding since last more than 16 and half years i.e. from July 2004 to 20.03.2021, who is accused of an offence under Section 148, 302/149, 323/149 I.P.C. which is heinous offence and on account of his absconding, trial of the applicant held up since last more than 16 and half years. Considering the facts of the case as disclosed by learned counsel for the applicant and learned A.G.A. as well as conduct of the applicant, I do not find any good ground to release the applicant on bail.
Accordingly the application for bail of the applicant is hereby rejected.
Order Date :- 10.8.2021
Sunil Kr. Gupta
