Allahabad High Court
Vikram Singh vs State Of U.P. on 21 April, 2023
Bench: Rajeev Misra
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 49
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 17916 of 2023
Applicant :- Vikram Singh
Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Adesh Kumar,Barkha Chaudhary
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Rajeev Misra,J.
1. Heard Mr. Adesh Kumar, the learned counsel for applicant the learned A.G.A. for State.
2. Perused the record.
3. This application for bail has been filed by applicant-Vikram Singh, seeking his enlargement on bail in Case Crime No. 71 of 2023, under Section 7 Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120B IPC, Police Station-Karhal, District-Mainpuri during the pendency of trial.
4. Record shows that in respect of an incident, which is alleged to have occurred on 15.02.2023, a prompt FIR dated 15.02.2023 was lodged by first informant-Inspector, Kalpana Gautam and was registered as Case Crime No. 71 of 2023, under Section 7 Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120B IPC, Police Station-Karhal, District-Mainpuri. In the aforesaid FIR, 2 persons namely (1). Omveer and (2).Vikram Singh i.e. applicant herein have been nominated as named accused.
5. Learned counsel for applicant submits that applicant is working as Technician in the Electricity Department, Government of U.P. No recovery has been made from the applicant. The prosecution story that demand was raised by applicant is not corroborated by any other material on record. It is thus urged that the acid test laid down for invoking the provisions of Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption act as explained by the Constitution Bench judgment in Neeraj Dutta Vs. State (NCT of Delhi) 2022 OnLine SC 1724 is not satisfied against applicant up to this stage. He further submits that applicant is a man of clean antecedent inasmuch as, he has no criminal history to his credit except the present one. Applicant is in jail since 15.02.2023 and in case, applicant is enlarged on bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail and shall co-operate with the trial.
6. Per contra, the learned A.G.A. has opposed the present application for bail. However, he could not dislodge the factual/legal submissions urged by the learned counsel for applicant at this stage.
7. Having heard, the learned counsel for applicant, the learned A.G.A. for State and upon perusal of material brought on record as well as the complicity of applicant and accusation made coupled with the fact that since applicant is working as a Class-III employee on the post of Technician, there being no recovery from applicant, the disputed amount being Rs. 10,000/- only, the test laid down for invoking the provisions of Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act as explained by the Constitution Bench judgment as noted above, being not satisfied up to this stage, applicant has made out a case for bail.
8. Accordingly, the bail application is allowed.
9. Let the applicant-Vikram Singh, be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions which are being imposed in the interest of justice:-
(i) THE APPLICANT SHALL FILE AN UNDERTAKING TO THE EFFECT THAT HE/SHE SHALL NOT SEEK ANY ADJOURNMENT ON THE DATE 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 APPLICANT SHALL REMAIN PRESENT BEFORE THE TRIAL COURT ON EACH DATE FIXED, EITHER PERSONALLY OR THROUGH HIS/HER COUNSEL. IN CASE OF HIS/HER ABSENCE, WITHOUT SUFFICIENT CAUSE, THE TRIAL COURT MAY PROCEED AGAINST HIM/HER UNDER SECTION 229-A IPC.
(iii) IN CASE, THE APPLICANT MISUSES THE LIBERTY OF BAIL DURING TRIAL AND IN ORDER TO SECURE HIS/HER PRESENCE PROCLAMATION UNDER SECTION 82 CR.P.C., MAY BE ISSUED AND IF APPLICANT FAILS TO APPEAR BEFORE THE COURT ON THE DATE FIXED IN SUCH PROCLAMATION, THEN, THE TRIAL COURT SHALL INITIATE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HIM/HER, IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW, UNDER SECTION 174-A IPC.
(iv) THE APPLICANT SHALL REMAIN PRESENT, IN PERSON, BEFORE THE TRIAL COURT ON DATES FIXED FOR (1) OPENING OF THE CASE, (2) FRAMING OF CHARGE AND (3) 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 THE HIM/HER IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW.
(v) THE TRIAL COURT MAY MAKE ALL POSSIBLE EFFORTS/ENDEAVOUR AND TRY TO CONCLUDE THE TRIAL WITHIN A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR AFTER THE RELEASE OF THE APPLICANT.
10. However, it is made clear that any wilful violation of above conditions by the applicant, shall have serious repercussion on his bail so granted by this Court and the trial court is at liberty to cancel the bail, after recording the reasons for doing so, in the given case of any of the condition mentioned above.
Order Date :- 21.4.2023
Vinay
