Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati
The vs Unknown on 7 March, 2023
HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH::AT AMARAVATI
MAIN CASE No.CRL.A.No.1374 of 2018
PROCEEDING SHEET
Sl. OFFICE
DATE ORDER
No. NOTE
12. 07.03.2023 AVSS,J & VJP,J
I.A.No.1 of 2023
The appellant, who is Accused No.3 in
S.C.No.34 of 2014, on the file of the Court of the I
Additional District and Sessions Judge, West
Godavari, Eluru, is the petitioner in the present
application, filed under Section 389(1) of Code of
Criminal Procedure, and the present application is
filed seeking to release the appellant/petitioner(A3)
on bail pending Criminal Appeal No.1374 of 2018.
By way of the judgment, dated 12-02-2018,
the learned I Additional District and Sessions Judge,
West Godavari, Eluru, convicted the
appellant/petitioner herein and sentenced him to
undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of
Rs.1,000/- under Section 302 r/w Section 149 of
IPC and also sentenced the appellant/petitioner to
undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six (6)
months for the charge under Section 120-B r/w 149
of IPC and directed that the sentences should run
concurrently.
It is contended by the learned counsel for the
appellant/petitioner that as per the law laid down by
the Composite High Court of Andhra Pradesh in the
case of Batchu Rangarao and others v. State of
Andhra Pradesh in Criminal Appeal No.607 of
2011, the appellant/petitioner is entitled to be
enlarged on bail as he completed five (5) years of
actual sentence, after the conviction imposed by the
learned I Additional District and Sessions Judge,
West Godavari, Eluru.
It is not in controversy that the petitioner
herein has completed five (5) years of actual
sentence. In this context, it may be appropriate to
refer to the criteria laid down in the aforesaid
judgment of the Composite High Court of Andhra
Pradesh which reads as follows:
"On Considering their valuable suggestions and
after a thorough evaluation of the relevant factors, we
are inclined to indicate broad criteria on which the
applications for grant of bail pending the Criminal
Appeals filed against the conviction for the offences,
including the one under Section-302 IPC, and
sentencing of the appellants to life among other allied
sentences, are to be considered. Accordingly, we
evolve the following criteria:
(1) A person who is convicted for life and whose
appeal is pending before this Court is
entitled to apply for bail after he has
undergone a minimum of five years
imprisonment following his conviction;
(2) Grant of bail in favour of persons falling in
(1) supra shall be subject to his good conduct
in the jail, as reported by the respective Jail
Superintendents;
(3) In the following categories of cases, the
convicts will not be entitled to be released on
bail, despite their satisfying the criteria in (1)
and (2) supra: The offences relating to rape
coupled with murder of minor children
dacoity, murder for gain, kidnapping for
ransom, killing of the public servants, the
offences falling under the
National Security Act and the Offences
pertaining to narcotic drugs.
(4) While granting bail, the two following
conditions apart from usual conditions have
to be imposed, viz., (1) the appellants on bail
must be present before the Court at the time
of hearing of the Criminal Appeals; and (2)
they must report in the respective Police
Station once in a month during the bail
period.
This broad criteria cannot be understood as
invariable principles and the Bench hearing the bail
applications may exercise its direction either for
granting or rejecting the bail based on the facts of
each case. Needless to observe that grant of bail
based on these principles shall, however, be subject
to the provisions of Section-389 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure."
Written instructions furnished by the
Superintendent of Jails, Central Prison,
Visakhapatnam, dated 03-03-2023, with regard to
the appellant/petitioner, are placed on record by the
learned Public Prosecutor, wherein it is stated that
the conduct of the petitioner in jail is satisfactory. It
is not the case of the prosecution that the case of the
appellant/petitioner falls under the exceptions
indicated in the operative portion of the judgement
referred to supra.
Since the case of the petitioner falls under the
parameters laid down in the above referred
judgement rendered by the Composite High Court of
Andhra Pradesh in the case of Batchu Rangarao
and others v. State of Andhra Pradesh, this Court
is inclined to release the appellant/petitioner on bail,
subject to certain terms and conditions.
Accordingly, I.A.No.1 of 2023 is allowed and
the petitioner shall be enlarged on bail on executing
a personal bond for a sum of Rs.25,000/-(Rupees
twenty five thousand only) with two sureties for the
like sum each to the satisfaction of the Court of the II
Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Eluru,
West Godavari. On such release, the petitioner shall
report before the II Town L&O Police Station, Eluru,
once in a week i.e., on every Saturday between 10.00
A.M. and 11.00 A.M. till the disposal of the appeal
and it is further directed that the petitioner shall be
present before the Court at the time of hearing of the
appeal. It is needless to observe that, in the event of
failure on the part of the petitioner, either in
appearing before the Court, at the time of hearing of
the appeal, or in fulfilling the conditions mentioned
supra, the prosecution is at liberty to take steps
against the petitioner in accordance with law.
________
AVSS,J
_______
VJP,J
MDP
