Allahabad High Court
Ram Raj @ Amit vs State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. ... on 31 August, 2022
Bench: Sanjay Kumar Pachori
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 15
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 9142 of 2022
Applicant :- Ram Raj @ Amit
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Lko.
Counsel for Applicant :- Ashok Kumar Mishra
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Gaurav Shukla
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Supplementary affidavit has been filed by learned counsel for the applicant today is taken on record.
Heard Sri Ashok Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Gaurav Shukla, learned counsel for the first informant, and Sri Anil Kumar Akela, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material on record.
The present bail application has been filed on behalf of applicant Ram Raj @ Amit aged about 43 years under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, with a prayer to release him on bail in Case Crime No. 60 of 2021, offence punishable under Sections 147, 148, 323, 504, 506, 325 & 308 of the Indian Penal Code, registered at Police Station- Gilaula, District- Shrawasti, during pendency of the trial.
As per allegation of F.I.R. dated 12.05.2021 which has been against seven named persons including the applicant stating that due to old enmity of land dispute, on 11.05.2021, the applicant and other co-accused persons having lathi-danda, iron rod assaulted the first informant and other family members of the first informant. In the incident, four persons received injuries.
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 general role of committing mar-pit has been assigned to the present applicant. No specific role or involvement has been attributed to the applicant. It is further submitted that as per medical report of the injured Sant Kumar Pathak has sustained injuries on his head and hair line fracture has been detected in X-ray report.
It is further submitted that out of seven co-accused persons, six co-accused have been granted bail by co-ordinate bench of this Court. It is further submitted that the applicant has criminal history of four other cases related to year 2003, 2007, 2013 & 2021 out of which in one case final report has been submitted, in another case, he has been exonerated and in two cases, charge sheet has not been submitted.
It is next contended that there is no other criminal antecedent to his credit. 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 22.06.2022 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 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, Ram Raj @ Amit be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on his 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 :- 31.8.2022/VPS
