Himachal Pradesh High Court
Rohit Kumar vs State Of Himachal Pradesh on 6 August, 2021
Bench: Sandeep Sharma
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH AT SHIMLA
Cr. MP (M) No. 1479 of 2021
Decided on August 6, 2021
.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rohit Kumar ...Petitioner
Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh ...Respondent
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coram:
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Sharma, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the petitioner Mr. Tara Singh Chauhan,
Advocate.
For the respondent Mr. Sudhir Bhatnagar and Mr.
Desh Raj Thakur, Additional
r Advocates General with Mr. R.P.
Singh and Mr. Narinder Thakur,
Deputy Advocates General.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandeep Sharma, J. (Oral)
Bail petitioner-Rohit Kumar, has approached this
Court by way of instant petition filed under S.438 CrPC, for
grant of anticipatory bail in FIR No. 284, dated 28.7.2021,
under Ss. 307, 323, 324, 147, 148, 149 and 506 IPC and Ss.
52, 54 and 59 of Arms Act, registered at Police Station Sadar,
Una, Himachal Pradesh.
2. Pursuant to order dated 29.7.2021 and 3.8.2021,
respondent-State has filed status report.
3. Mr. Sudhir Bhatnagar, learned Additional Advocate
General fairly states that though pursuant to the direction
Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
issued by this Court, bail petitioner has joined the
investigation and nothing remains to be recovered from the
.
bail petitioner, but keeping in view the gravity of the offence,
bail petitioner may not be ordered to be enlarged on bail at
this stage. Learned Additional Advocate General, further
contends that in case this Court intends to grant bail to the
petitioner, strict conditions may be imposed upon him.
4. Hon'ble Apex Court and this Court in a catena of
cases have repeatedly held that one is deemed to be innocent,
till the time, he/she is proved guilty in accordance with law. In
the case at hand, complicity, if any, of the bail petitioner is yet
to be established on record by the investigating agency, as
such, this Court sees no reason to let the bail petitioner
incarcerate in jail for an indefinite period during trial,
especially when nothing remains to be recovered from him.
Apprehension expressed by learned Additional Advocate
General, that in the event of being enlarged on bail, bail
petitioner may flee from justice or indulge in such offences
again, can be best met by putting the bail petitioner to
stringent conditions.
5. Hon'ble Apex Court in Criminal Appeal No.
227/2018, Dataram Singh vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr
decided on 6.2.2018 has held that freedom of an individual can
not be curtailed for indefinite period, especially when his/her
guilt is yet to be proved. It has further held by the Hon'ble Apex
.
Court in the aforesaid judgment that a person is believed to be
innocent until found guilty.
6. Hon'ble Apex Court in Sanjay Chandra versus
Central Bureau of Investigation (2012)1 Supreme Court
Cases 49 has held that gravity alone cannot be a decisive
ground to deny bail, rather competing factors are required to
be balanced by the court while exercising its discretion. It has
been repeatedly held by the Hon'ble Apex Court that object of
bail is to secure the appearance of the accused person at his
trial by reasonable amount of bail. The object of bail is neither
punitive nor preventative.
7. In Manoranjana Sinh alias Gupta versus CBI,
(2017) 5 SCC 218, Hon'ble Apex Court has held that the object
of the bail is to secure the attendance of the accused in the
trial and the proper test to be applied in the solution of the
question whether bail should be granted or refused is whether
it is probable that the party will appear to take his trial.
Otherwise also, normal rule is of bail and not jail. Apart from
above, Court has to keep in mind nature of accusations,
nature of evidence in support thereof, severity of the
punishment, which conviction will entail, character of the
accused, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused
involved in that crime.
.
8. The Apex Court in Prasanta Kumar Sarkar versus
Ashis Chatterjee and another (2010) 14 SCC 496, has laid
down various principles to be kept in mind, while deciding
petition for bail viz. prima facie case, nature and gravity of
accusation, punishment involved, apprehension of repetition of
offence and witnesses being influenced.
9. In view of above, bail petitioner has carved out a case
for himself, as such, present petition is allowed and order dated
29.7.2021, is made absolute, subject to the bail petitioner
furnishing fresh bail bonds in the sum of Rs.50,000/- with one
local surety in the like amount, to the satisfaction of the
investigating officer, besides the following conditions:
(a) He shall make himself available for the purpose of
interrogation, if so required and regularly attend the
trial Court on each and every date of hearing and if
prevented by any reason to do so, seek exemption
from appearance by filing appropriate application;
(b) He shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence
nor hamper the investigation of the case in any
manner whatsoever;
(c) He shall not make any inducement, threat or
promises to any person acquainted with the facts of
the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing
such facts to the Court or the Police Officer; and
(d) He shall not leave the territory of India without the
prior permission of the Court.
(e) He shall surrender passport, if any, held by him.
10. It is clarified that if the petitioner misuses the liberty
or violates any of the conditions imposed upon him, the
.
investigating agency shall be free to move this Court for
cancellation of the bail.
11. Any observations made hereinabove shall not be
construed to be a reflection on the merits of the case and shall
remain confined to the disposal of this petition alone.
The petition stands accordingly disposed of.
Copy dasti.
(Sandeep Sharma)
Judge
August 6, 2021
(vikrant)
