Allahabad High Court
Santosh Kumar vs State Of U.P. And Another on 7 March, 2025
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:33086
Court No. - 76
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 528 BNSS No. - 7559 of 2025
Applicant :- Santosh Kumar
Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another
Counsel for Applicant :- Ankit Kumar Singh
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Vinod Diwakar,J.
1. Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A. for the State-respondent, and perused material on record.
2. By means of the present application, the applicant has sought for a suitable direction from this Court to the learned trial court to consider two sureties and a personal bond to hold good for all twenty three cases in which the applicant has been granted bail by the Courts.
3. Learned counsel for the applicants submits that the applicants have been enlarged on bail by the Courts in cases outlined herein; (i) Case Crime No. 08 of 2023, under Section 136(1) of Electricity Act, Police Station- Ahmadgarh, District-Bulandshahr, (ii) Case Crime No. 06 of 2023, under Section 136 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Jahangirpur, Bulandshahr, (iii) Case Crime No. 08 of 2023 under Sections 136, 137 of Electricity Act and 427 & 411 I.P.C, Police Station- Pahasu, District- Bulandshahr, (iv) Case Crime No. 12 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station-Jahangirabad, Bulandshahr, (v) Case Crime No. 128 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Anti Power Theft, Bulandshahr, (vi) Case Crime No. 295 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Anti Power Theft, Bulandshahr, (vii) Case Crime No. 9940 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Anti Power Theft, Bulandshahr, (viii) Case Crime No. 9895 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Anti Power Theft, Bulandshahr, (ix) Case Crime No. 92 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Anti Power Theft, Bulandshahr, (x) Case Crime No. 18 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act and 411 & 427 I.P.C, Police Station- Jahangirabad, Bulandshahr, (xi) Case Crime No. 12 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Khanpur, Bulandshahr, (xii) Case Crime No.1072 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Khurja Nagar, Bulandshahr, (xiii) Case Crime No. 582 of 2022, under Section 136 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Kotwali Dehat, Bulandshahr, (xiv) Case Crime No. 16 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr, (xv) Case Crime No. 316 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Khanpur, Bulandshahr, (xvi) Case Crime No. 17 of 2023, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act and 427 I.P.C, Police Station- Pahasu, Bulandshahr, (xvii) Case Crime No. 469 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Chhatari, Bulandshahr, (xviii) Case Crime No. 458 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act and 411 I.P.C, Police Station- Anoop Shahar, Bulandshahr, (xix) Case Crime No. 1028 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act, Police Station- Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr, (xx) Case Crime No. 346 of 2022, under Section 136 & 137 of Electricity Act and 411 & 427 IP.C, Police Station- Pahasu, Bulandshahr, (xxi) Case Crime No. 600 of 2023, under Section 2/3 U.P. Gangster Act, Police Station- Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr, (xxii) Case Crime No. 721 of 2022, under Section 379 I.P.C. Police Station- Kotwali Dehat, Bulandshahr, (xxiii) Case Crime No. 41 of 2023, under Sections 414, 411 I.P.C., Police Station- Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr, respectively. However, the applicant could not be set at liberty as he is unable to arrange the sureties in aforesaid cases due to lack of financial and human resources. The applicant has been languishing in jail, depriving fundamental rights to life and personal liberty, and relied upon Ramchandra Thangappan Aachari v. State of Maharashtra reported as 2024 SCC OnLine SC 2629 and a judgment passed by the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court titled as Jagdish Arora v. Union of India, passed in MCRC No.4923 of 2022.
4. Per-contra, learned A.G.A. contends that sureties serve an essential role in securing the presence of the accused before the Court but fairly admits that sureties should be just and reasonable.
5. The Supreme Court in Ramchandra Thangappan Aachari (supra) has held that it would be a travesty of justice if the petitioner is unable to secure the benefit of a bail order for his inability to furnish local surety. This will infringe the rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution for the person who continues to be detained despite a bail order in his favour. The Division Bench of the High Court in Jagdish Arora (supra) is of the view that the power of amending or deleting any condition imposed by the Court under Section 439(1)(a) of Cr.P.C. has not been expressly provided in Cr.P.C. Therefore, the only course for seeking and granting modification/deletion of such condition is by invoking the inherent powers of the Court vested under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to secure the end of justice. The object behind bestowing the inherent power of this Court is to do complete justice and to prevent miscarriage of justice.
6. Thus, the applicant's fundamental right to personal liberty cannot be curtailed on account of his poverty and inability to arrange multiple sureties to secure release from jail despite having bail orders in his favour.
7. Therefore, the trial court is directed to release the applicant on furnishing the personal bonds for each case and two sureties to the satisfaction of the Court concerned for all twenty three cases. For clarity, if the applicant furnishes personal bonds against each case to the satisfaction of the trial court and two sureties against any of the cases referred herein above, he shall be released in all the twenty three cases. The trial Court shall not press for separate sureties for each case to release the applicant in compliance of bail orders.
8. With the aforesaid observations the application is allowed and decided accordingly.
Order Date :- 7.3.2025
Shafique
Justice Vinod Diwakar
