Allahabad High Court
Mohammad Shahid vs State Of U.P Thru. Prin. Secy. Home on 29 August, 2022
Bench: Sanjay Kumar Pachori
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 15
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 5310 of 2022
Applicant :- Mohammad Shahid
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P Thru. Prin. Secy. Home
Counsel for Applicant :- Mohammad Javed
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Heard Sri Mohammad Javed, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri S.P. Tiwari, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material on record.
The present bail application has been filed on behalf of applicant Surendra Sharma under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, with a prayer to release him on bail in Case Crime No. 287 of 2022, under Sections 3(1) of the U.P. Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities(Prevention) Act, 1986, registered at Police Station- Kotwali Nagar, District- Barabanki, during pendency of the trial.
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case due to ulterior motive. It is further submitted that in the gang chart only one case has been shown against the applicant as case crime no. 369 of 2021 under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B, 177 and 506 of the IPC and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, Police Station Kotwali, District- Barabanki in which he has been granted bail by Co-ordinate bench of this Court in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 13252 of 2021 vide order dated 18.11.2021.
It is submitted that the applicant has a criminal history of one other case as case crime no. 516 of 2007, under Section 188 of the IPC and Section 30 of the Arms Act in which the applicant enlarged on bail by the Court below. It is submitted that no incriminating article was recovered from the applicant. In the aforesaid case, the co-accused, Saleem who has been assigned identical role has been enlarged on bail vide order dated 15.11.2021 passed in Bail No. 12996 of 2021. It is further submitted that the applicant has no other criminal history except the aforesaid case.
It is further submitted that the co-accused persons, Mohammad Suhaib Mujahid, Dr. Alka Rai, Dr. Shesh Nath Rai, Rajnath Yadav, Anand Yadav, Mohammad [email protected] have been granted bail by Co-ordinate Benches of this Court in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 4169 of 2022, Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 3786 of 2022, Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 3765 of 2022, Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 4551 of 2022, Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 5527 of 2022 and Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 4640 of 2022 vide order dated 28.04.2022, 18.05.2022, 18.05.2022, 23.05.2022, 31.05.2022 and 29.06.2022 respectively.
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 07.04.2022 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 supported the order passed by the court below and vehemently opposed the prayer for grant of bail to the applicant. He further submits that in case the applicant is released on bail, he will again indulge in similar activities and will misuse the liberty of bail.
It is a settled law that while granting bail, the court has to keep in mind the nature of accusation, the nature of the evidence in support thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused, the circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, his role and involvement in the offence, his involvement in other cases and reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with.
Taking into account the totality of facts and keeping in mind, the provision of Section 19(4) of U.P. Gangster and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act and the ratio of the Apex Court's judgment in the case of State of Rajasthan v. Balchand @ Baliay (1977) 4 SCC 308, Gudikanti Narasimhulu And Ors., v. Public Prosecutor, High Court Of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1978 SC 429, Ram Govind Upadhyay v. Sudarshan Singh & Ors., (2002) 3 SCC 598, Prasanta Kumar Sarkar v. Ashis Chatterjee & Anr., (2010) 14 SCC 496 and Mahipal v. Rajesh Kumar & Anr., (2020) 2 SCC 118, 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. Hence, the present bail application is allowed.
Let applicant, Mohammad Shahid be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on her furnishing a personal bond and two reliable sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to the following conditions:
(i) The applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat, or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade her from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
(ii) The applicant shall not pressurize/intimidate the prosecution witnesses.
(iii) The applicant 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 of Cr.P.C.
(iv) The applicant 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 the trial court.
(v) The applicant shall remain present before the trial court on each date fixed, either personally or through his counsel.
(vi) 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. If in the opinion of the trial court that 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 in accordance with law.
The trial court may make all possible efforts/endeavor and try to conclude the trial expeditiously in accordance with law after the release of the applicant, if there is no other legal impediment.
It is made clear that the observations made in this order are 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.
The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by the applicant along-with 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 :- 29.8.2022
Anurag, APS
