Allahabad High Court
Santosh Kumar vs State Of U.P. on 14 July, 2021
Bench: Sanjay Kumar Pachori
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 68
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 16787 of 2021
Applicant :- Santosh Kumar
Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Nagendra Bahadur Singh,Kumar Ashutosh Srivastava
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Heard Shri Nagendra Bahadur Singh, learned counsel for the applicant, Shri Nitin Kesarwani, learned A.G.A. and perused the record of the case.
The present bail application has been filed on behalf of applicant, Santosh Kumar with a prayer to release him on bail in case crime no. 35 of 2021, under Sections 147, 148, 149, 325, 332, 333, 336, 353, 307, 504 IPC and 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, P.S. Devgaon, district Azamgarh, during pendency of trial.
It is submitted that the dispute between two parties were taken place. During the dispute the police party raided the spot. The First Information Report has been lodged by the S.S.I. Birendra Singh against 13 named and 150-200 unknown persons. 7 police personnels have received injuries during this incident. All the injuries are simple in nature. There is no injury which has been found on the vital part of any of the injured. The injured persons have received abrasion, contusion, complaint of pain, which are simple in nature. There is no X-ray report regarding injuries. According to the FIR there is no specific role assigned to the applicant. A general allegation of stone pelting have been attributed to all the persons. The First Information Report has been lodged after eight hours of the incident. The applicant has not concerned with the co-acused Dev Nath and Rajesh Kumar Gupta. The police falsely implicated the applicant. No motive has been assigned to the applicant. It is next submitted that there is also no possibility of the applicant either fleeing away from the judicial process or tampering with the witnesses. The applicant, who is languishing in jail since, undertakes that he 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 of the applicant by contending that the innocence of the applicant cannot be adjudged at pre trial stage, therefore, he does not deserve any indulgence. In case the applicant is released on bail, he 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. Bal Chandra (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-applicant, 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 applicant, Santosh Kumar be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on his furnishing a personal bond and two reliable sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions-
1. The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence by intimidating/ pressurizing the witnesses, during the investigation or trial.
2. The applicant shall cooperate in the trial sincerely without seeking any adjournment.
3. The applicant shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail.
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 :- 14.7.2021
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