Akhlesh @ Akhilesh Yadav vs State Of Chhattisgarh
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Chattisgarh High Court

Akhlesh @ Akhilesh Yadav vs State Of Chhattisgarh on 21 February, 2025

                                              1




KUNAL
DEWANGAN            HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
Digitally
signed by
KUNAL
DEWANGAN                           CRA No. 1862 of 2022

            1 - Akhlesh @ Akhilesh Yadav S/o Guljhari Yadav Aged About 25
            Years Resident Of Bakswaha, District Chhatarpur (M.P.), At Present
            R/o Barkaspali, Police Station Tapkara District Jashpur Chhattisgarh.


            2 - Rajkumari @ Rajwati Sidar W/o Akhlesh Yadav Aged About 23
            Years Resident Of Barkaspali, Police Station Tapkara, District Jashpur
            Chhattisgarh.


            3 - Naresh Bai Sidar W/o Late Butru Sidar Aged About 50 Years
            Resident Of Barkaspali, Police Station Tapkara, District Jashpur
            Chhattisgarh.


            4 - Karamchand Sidar S/o Late Butru Sidar Aged About 23 Years
            Resident Of Barkaspali, Police Station Tapkara, District Jashpur
            Chhattisgarh.
                                                                   ... Appellants
                                           versus
            State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Station House Officer, Police
            Station House Officer, Police Station Tapkara, District - Jashpur
            Chhattisgarh.
                                                                  ....Respondent

Order Sheet

21/02/2025 By the impugned judgment of conviction and order of

sentence dated 30.09.2022, the learned Special Judge

Attrocitis, Jashpur (C.G.) in Special Criminal Case under the

SC/ST Act No.21/2021, has convicted the appellant for the

offence punishable as under:-

Conviction under Sentence Fine In default of Section (Rigorous payment of imprisonment) fine add. R.I. Section 366 of 07 years Rs.1000/- 4 months the IPC.

Section 370/34 of 10 years Rs.1000/- 4 months. the IPC.

Both sentences have been directed to run concurrently.

Heard Mr. Vasant Zokarkar, learned counsel for the

appellants. Also heard Mr. Bharat Gulbani, learned Panel

Lawyer, appearing for the respondent/State on the instant

application for suspension of sentence and grant of bail (I.A.

01/2022).

Learned counsel for the convict/appellants submits

that the appellants are innocent and they have been falsely

implicated in this case. He further argued that the

appellants No.1 & 2 are husband and wife and so far as

the appellants No. 3 and 4 are concerned, they are

relatives of appellant No.2. He further submits that the

victim is married and major woman and as per the

allegations levelled against them, on 12.02.2012 the

present appellants have taken Divya Tigga from her house

and allegedly conspired to commit human trafficking

against her, deceiving her with promises of better

employment or opportunities. They allegedly transported

her from Jashpur to Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh.

Thereafter the FIR has been registered against the

appellants and subsequently, they were arrested. He

contended that the appellants are in jail 16.02.2021 and

have completed the jail sentence of more than 4 years out

of 10 years and further the appeal is likely to take a couple

of years or even more in its final disposal and if the bail is

not granted to the appellants, the present appeal would

become infructuous.

Learned counsel for the appellants relied upon the

judgment passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the matters

of Atul Alias Ashutosh vs. State of Madhya Pradesh

(2024) 3 SCC 663 and Nanhe Lal Verma vs. State of

Madhya Pradesh (Arising out of SLP (Criminal) No.

14769 of 2024) wherein, the Hon'ble Apex Court has held

that when there is a fixed term sentence and especially

when the appeal is not likely to be heard before completing

entire period of sentence, normally suspension of sentence

and bail should be granted.

However, Mr. Bharat Gulbani, learned Panel Lawyer,

appearing for the State opposes the prayer for grant of

bail.

I have heard learned counsel for the parties and

perused the bail application.

Considering the submissions advanced by the

learned counsel for the parties, further considering the

law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Atul Alia

Ashutosh (Supra) and Nanhe Lal Verma (Supra), also

considering the fact that the victim is a married woman

and it is alleged that she has been subjected to human

trafficking by the appellants, the fact that the maximum

sentence awarded to the appellants is RI for 10 years

under Section 370/34 of IPC and he has already served

out the jail sentence of more than 04 years out of 10

years and the hearing of this appeal would take

prolonged period of time and if the bail is not granted to

the appellants, the present appeal would become

infructuous, as such, I deem it appropriate to allow the

application for suspension of sentence and grant of bail

moved on behalf of the appellants.

Accordingly, the application (I.A. No. 01 of 2022)

is allowed. The substantive jail sentence awarded to the

appellants by the learned trial Court is hereby

suspended. They shall be released on bail on their

executing bail bond to the satisfaction of the concerned

trial Court for their appearance before the Registry of

this Court on 16.04.2025. They shall thereafter appear

before the concerned trial Court on a date to be given

by the Registry of this Court and shall continue to

appear there on all such subsequent dates as are given

to them by the said Court, interval being not less than 6

months, till final disposal of this appeal.

Consequently,

It is made clear that the observations made

hereinabove are only confined for disposal of aforesaid IA

filed in this appeal and it shall not be construed as an

expression of opinion of this Court on merits of the

matter.

List this matter for final hearing.

Certified copy, as per rules.

Sd/-

(Ramesh Sinha) Chief Justice

Kunal