Allahabad High Court
Sandeep Kumar Singh @ Taashi And ... vs State Of U.P. on 9 August, 2021
Bench: Sanjay Kumar Pachori
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 68
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 26933 of 2021
Applicant :- Sandeep Kumar Singh @ Taashi And Another
Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Suneel Kumar Mishra
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Heard Sri Suneel Kumar Mishra learned counsel for the applicants, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record of the case.
The present bail application has been filed on behalf of applicants, namely, Sandeep Kumar Singh @ Taashi And Harendra Singh @ Lala, with a prayer to release them on bail in Case Crime No. 354 of 2019, under Sections 395, 397 I.P.C., Police Station- Bhojpur, District- Moradabad, during pendency of trial.
It has been submitted by learned counsel for the applicants that the applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case due to ulterior motive. It has further been submitted that nothing incriminating article has been recovered from the possession of the applicants and the applicants have not been arrested from the spot. they have been implicated on the basis of confessional statement of co-accused Rinku Kumar who has granted bail by this Court vide order dated 6.8.2021 passed in Crl. Misc. Bail Application No. 26798 of 2021. It is next contended that there is criminal history of three cases to his credit which has been explained in para 9 of the affidavit. Applicants have been challened in three other cases without recovering any incriminating articles and the applicants have enlarged on bail in all the three cases bearing case crime No. 6 of 2020, under Section 395, 397 IPC, PS Kichha, District Udhamsingh Nagar; in case crime No. 950 of 2019, under Section 394, 342, 411, 420 IPC, PS Bahedi, District Bareilly and case crime No. 24 of 2020, under Section 392 IPC, PS Bilaspur, District Rampur. Except these three cases, applicants have no previous criminal antecedents. It is next submitted that there is also no possibility of the applicants either fleeing away from the judicial process or tampering with the witnesses. The applicants, who are languishing in jail since 28.1.2020, undertakes that they will not misuse the liberty, if granted. It has also been pointed out that in the wake of heavy pendency of cases in the Court, there is no likelihood of any early conclusion of trial.
Per contra learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for bail. In case the applicants are released on bail, they will again indulge in similar activities and will misuse the liberty of bail.
It is settled position of law that bail is the rule and committal to jail is an exception in the case of State of Rajasthan Vs. Balchand @ Baliay (1977) 4 SCC 308, the Apex Court observed that refusal of bail is a restriction on the personal liberty of the individual guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and opined para 2 "The basic rule may perhaps be tersely put as bail, not jail, except where there are circumstances suggestive of fleeing from justice or thwarting the course of justice or creating other troubles in the shape of repeating offences or intimidating witnesses and the like, by the petitioner who seeks enlargement on bail from the court. We do. not intend to be exhaustive but only illustrative." and considering the facts of the case and keeping in mind, the ratio of the Apex Court's judgment in the case of Gudikanti Narasimhulu And Ors vs Public Prosecutor, High Court Of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1978 SC 429, larger mandate of Article 21 of the constitution of India, the nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in support thereof, the severity of punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused-applicants, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with, the larger interest of the public/ State and other circumstances, but without expressing any opinion on the merits, I am of the view that it is a fit case for grant of bail.
Let applicants, Sandeep Kumar Singh @ Taashi And Harendra Singh @ Lala, be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on their furnishing a personal bond and two reliable sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions-
(i) The applicants shall file an undertaking to the effect that he shall not seek any adjournment on the dates fixed for evidence when the witnesses are present in court. In case of default of this condition, it shall be open for the trial court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law.
(ii) The applicants shall remain present before the trial court on each date fixed, either personally or through his counsel. In case of his absence, without sufficient cause, the trial court may proceed against him under Section 229-A of the Indian Penal Code.
(iii) In case, the applicants misuses the liberty of bail during trial and in order to secure their presence proclamation under Section 82 Cr.P.C. is issued and the applicants fail to appear before the court on the date fixed in such proclamation, then, the trial court shall initiate proceedings against them, in accordance with law, under Section 174-A of the Indian Penal Code.
(iv) The applicants shall remain present, in person, before the trial court on the dates fixed for (i) opening of the case, (ii) framing of charge and (iii) recording of statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. If in the opinion of the trial court absence of the applicant is deliberate or without sufficient cause, then it shall be open for the trial court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed against them in accordance with law.
It is clarified that anything said in this order is limited to the purpose of determination of this bail application and will in no way be construed as an expression on the merits of the case. The trial court shall be absolutely free to arrive at its independent conclusions on the basis of evidence led unaffected by anything said in this order.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail.
The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by the petitioner alongwith a self attested identity proof of the said person (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number to which the said Aadhar Card is linked.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
Order Date :- 9.8.2021
Ankita
