Allahabad High Court
Ataulla Khan vs State Of U.P. Thru Secy. Home ... on 17 February, 2023
Bench: Shree Prakash Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Court No. - 27
Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 1171 of 2022
Appellant :- Ataulla Khan
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru Secy. Home Lucknow And Ors.
Counsel for Appellant :- Rizwanul Haque Ansari,Amit Kumar Awasthi,Rahul Srivastava,Salil Kumar Srivastava
Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Sanjai Kumar Singh
Hon'ble Shree Prakash Singh,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant-appellant and Shri Sanjai Kumar Singh, learned counsel for opposite party No.2 as well as Shri Ajay Singh Tomar, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
The instant criminal appeal has been filed with a prayer to set-aside the judgment and order dated 08.04.2022 passed by Additional Sessions Judge-II/Special Judge SC/ST Act, Lakhimpur Kheri, in Case Crime No.-588/2021, under Sections 147/148/149/307/504/506/341/325 I.P.C. & 3(2)5 SC/ST Act, Police Station- Nighasan, District- Lakhimpur Kheri. Further prayer is to release the appellant on bail.
Learned counsel appearing for the applicant-appellant submits that the appellant is innocent and has falsely been implicated in the present matter due to ulterior motive. He next added that general role has been assigned to all the accused persons in the first information report including the present applicant. He next stated that the witnesses and even the injured have not specified the role of the present applicant and the main role has assigned to one, Haneef, who has been assigned role of attacking with chopper and thus, the role of Haneef is distinguishable from the role of the present applicant. Criminal history of two cases have been explained in paragraph 19 of the bail application. He further submits that identically situated co-accused, namely, Mohd. Safi @ Lallu, Sadruddin @ Sadru and Haseeb @ Julla have already been enlarged on bail in Criminal Appeals No.173 of 2022, 191 of 2022 and 257 of 2022 respectively, vide order dated 13.02.2023 and the appellant is seeking parity of the orders aforesaid. He further added that the appellant is a law abiding citizen and is languishing in jail since 04.04.2022. He submits that the appellant undertakes that in case, he is granted bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail and would cooperate in the trial proceedings.
On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the opposite parties no. 2 has vehemently opposed the contentions aforesaid and submits that the appellant is involved in committing offence as there are serious allegations in the first information report and it was also come after the thorough investigation in the matter that the present appellant is involved in committing offence and thus, he is not entitled any relief.
The counsel appearing for the State has also supported the version of the counsel for the opposite party and submits that the appellant is not entitled for any relief.
Considering the submissions made by learned counsels for the parties and after perusal of the material placed on record, it reveals that general role has been assigned to all the accused persons including the present appellant and the injured has also not assigned any specific role to the appellant. Further, the main role has been assigned to one of the co-accused, namely, Haneef and thus, the role of the present appellant is distinguishable from the role of Haneef and criminal history of two cases has been already explained in the paragraph 19 of the bail application. Identically situated co-accused have already been granted bail and the appellant is languishing in jail since 04.04.2022.
Considering the above facts and circumstances of the case and the arguments advanced on behalf of both the side and the facts that the trial of the case is not likely to be concluded in near future, hence the appeal has substance and it is accordingly allowed and the order dated 08.04.2022 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge-II/Special Judge SC/ST Act, Lakhimpur Kheri in Bail Application No.65/2022 is set aside.
Let the applicant-appellant, Ataulla Khan involved in the aforementioned crime be released on bail, 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:-
1. The applicant-appellant will not tamper with the evidence.
2. The applicant-appellant will not indulge in any criminal activity.
3. The applicant-appellant will not pressurize/intimidate the prosecution witnesses and co-operate in the trial.
4. The applicant-appellant will appear regularly on each and every date fixed by the trial court unless his personal appearance is exempted through counsel by the court concerned.
Order Date :- 17.2.2023
G.Singh
