Allahabad High Court
Govind vs State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief ... on 19 May, 2023
Bench: Subhash Vidyarthi
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD, LUCKNOW BENCH
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC-LKO:34974
Court No. - 16
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 6568 of 2023
Applicant :- Govind
Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. Of Dept. Of Home Govt. U.P. Lko
Counsel for Applicant :- Rahul Srivastava,Abhinav Srivastava
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Subhash Vidyarthi,J.
1. Heard Sri Rahul Srivastava, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Manish Kumar Pandey, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the records.
2. The instant application has been filed seeking release of the applicant on bail in Case Crime No. 220 of 2022, under Sections 498-A, 302 I.P.C. and Section 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act, registered at Police Station Ahirauli, District Ambedkar Nagar.
3. The aforesaid case has been registered on the basis of an F.I.R. lodged on 29.08.2022 against the applicant, his father and mother stating that the informant had got his daughter married to the applicant about 10-11 years ago. The family members of the applicant used to ill treat the informant's daughter and they used to beat her frequently. The informant's daughter has two minor children. The accused persons used to demand rupees five lacs from the informant. On 28.08.2022, the informant's daughter had made a phone call to the informant at about 17.20 hrs. and she had asked to save her stating that the accused persons were beating her. When the informant, his son and one of his relatives Mahendra reached the applicant's house the found the informant's daughter lying dead.
4. The copy of the inquest report annexed with the affidavit indicates that the information of the incident was given to the police by the applicant's father co-accused Sant Ram. It mentions a black mark on the neck of the dead body and no other visible injury was mentioned in the inquest report.
5. The postmortem examination report of the dead body of the deceased mentions continuous horizontal ligature mark around her neck of size 14 cm X 3 cm and the cause of death has been opined to be asphyxia due to shock and ante mortem throttling.
6. In the affidavit filed in support of bail application it has been stated that the applicant is innocent, he has been falsely implicated in the present case and he has no criminal history.
7. Copies of the statement of the informant and the deceased's mother recorded by learned trial court have been annexed with the affidavit filed in support of bail application. In the cross-examination the informant denied all the allegations and he was declared to be hostile. The deceased's father PW-2 also turned hostile.
8. Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that the applicant's mother and father co-accused persons Chinta Devi and Sant Ram have already been granted bail by this court by means of orders dated 22.02.2023 and 03.04.2023, passed in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.13681 of 2022 and Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.591 of 2023 respectively.
9. Learned counsel for the applicant has relied upon a judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Charan Singh @ Charanjit Singh Vs. The State of Uttarakhand: Criminal Appeal No.447 of 2012, decided on 20.04.2023. The aforesaid case deals with the offences under Section 304-B & 498-A I.P.C. whereas the applicant has been charged with Section 302 I.P.C. also.
10. The learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for bail and submitted that the offence is heinous in nature and the applicant is not entitled to be enlarged on bail.
11. Having considered the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case and the submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, what prima facie appears from the material available before this court at this stage is that the deceased died inside her house and the postmortem examination report mentions the presence of continuous horizontal ligature mark around her neck of size 14 cm X 3 cm which is clearly indicative of throttling, as such a mark cannot be present in a case of hanging by oneself. The doctor who conducted the postmortem examination has also opined that the death was caused due to asphyxia and shock due to ante mortem throttling. The applicant is husband of the deceased and although the deceased's father and mother in law have been granted bail the finding of the postmortem examination report have no been taken into consideration by this court while granting bail to them. In view of above, I am of the considered view that the aforesaid facts do not warrant exercise of discretion of this court in favour of the applicant by enlarging him on bail.
12. Accordingly, this bail application stands rejected.
(Subhash Vidyarthi, J.)
Order Date :- 19.5.2023
Ram.
