Baldev Ram vs State
2022 Latest Caselaw 3599 Raj

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR

S.B. Criminal 2nd Appeal No. 1158/2021

Ramdev S/o Shanker Lal, Aged About 45 Years, B/c Jat, R/o

Dangawas, P.S. Merta City, Dist. Nagaur. (In Judicial Custody At

Sub Jail, Merta).

----Appellant Versus

1. The Union Of India Through C.B.I.

2. Arjun Ram S/o Ratna Ram, Aged About 26 Years, B/c

Meghwal, R/o Meghwalo Ka Mohalla, Dangawas, P.s.

Merta City, Dist. Nagaur.

----Respondents

Connected With

S.B. Criminal Appeal (Sb) No. 631/2020

Baldev Ram S/o Shri Gordhan Ram, Aged About 42 Years,

Dangawas, Police Station Merta City, District Nagaur. (At Present

Lodged In Sub Jail Parbatsar, District Nagaur).

----Appellant Versus

State, Through P.P.

                                                                ----Respondent





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For Appellant(s)         :     Mr.    J.S.      Choudhary,         Sr.     Advocate

                               assisted by Mr. Pradeep Choudhary,

                               Ms. Sampati Choudhary



                               Mr. R.R. Jangu, Mr. Hanuman Singh



For Respondent(s)        :     Dr. Sachin Acharya, Sr. Advocate, Spl.

                               PP assisted by Mr. Rahul Rajpurohit

                               for CBI



           HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJAY BISHNOI

                         Judgment / Order

09/03/2022

These criminal appeals under Section 14-A(2) of the

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of

Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter to be referred as 'the

SC/ST Act') have been filed on behalf of the appellants

being aggrieved with the orders dated 5.10.2021 and

1.7.2020 passed by the Special Judge, SC/ST (Prevention

of Atrocities) Act Cases, Merta, District Nagaur

(hereinafter to be referred as 'the trial court') in Criminal

Misc. Case No.168/2021 (Sessions Case No.68/2015

(133/2015) and Criminal Misc. Bail Case No.61/2020

respectively, whereby the trial court has dismissed the

bail applications filed on behalf of the appellants.

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       The   appellants       have        been        arrested       in   FIR/CR

No.168/2015 of Police Station Merta City, Distt. Nagaur

for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 307,

341, 436, 447, 323, 324, 325, 326, 354, 147, 148, 149

IPC and Sections 3(1)(v)(x) and 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST

Act.

Learned counsels for the appellants have submitted

that the appellants have falsely been implicated in this

case. It is argued that as per the prosecution story, as

many as ten persons from the complainant's side were

present at the time of incident and some of them had

also received injuries. Learned counsels for the appellants

while inviting my attention towards the statements of

prosecution witnesses namely Arjun Ram, Kishna Ram,

Munna Ram, Khema Ram, Sonki, Jashoda, Shobha Devi,

Shrawan Ram, Bhanwari and Bidami have argued that

out of the aforesaid prosecution witnesses, Arjun Ram,

Khema Ram, Sonki, Jashoda, Shobha Devi, Shrawan

Ram, Bhanwari and Bidami have not named the

appellants. It is also argued that the above-named

witnesses have been examined by the trial court as

PW-1, PW-4, PW-5, PW-6, PW-7, PW-8, PW-9 and PW-10

and they have not named the appellants in their court

statements.

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Learned counsels for the appellants have submitted

that so far as appellant - Ramdev is concerned,

prosecution witness Kishna Ram (PW-2) named him for

the first time in his statements recorded by the CBI on

7.6.2015, however, in his court statements, he has not

named appellant - Ramdev.

So far as appellant - Baldev Ram is concerned, it is

argued by learned counsel that Kishna Ram (PW-2) has

not named him in his police as well as CBI statements,

but subsequently named him in his statements recorded

by the CBI under Section 161 CrPC on 7.6.2015 without

specifying his role. It is also argued that Kishna Ram

(PW-2) though named appellant - Baldev Ram, but no

role has been assigned to him. It is further argued that

Munna Ram (PW-3), in his CBI statements recorded on

28.3.2016, has named appellant - Baldev Ram, but in his

court statements, he has not named the said appellant.

Learned counsel has also submitted that though

some of the prosecution witnesses, in their police, CBI as

well as court statements have named appellant - Baldev

Ram, but no specific role has been assigned to him.

Learned counsel has also argued that statements of eye

witnesses have been recorded before the trial court and,

in such circumstances, it cannot be said that the

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appellants can pressurize them or temper with the

evidence of the eye witnesses.

Learned counsels for the appellants have also

submitted that appellant - Ramdev is in custody from

16.5.2015, whereas appellant - Baldev Ram is in custody

from 14.2.2017, however, the trial against them has not

been concluded till date and, in such circumstances, they

are entitled to be enlarged on bail.

Per contra, learned counsel appearing on behalf of

the CBI has vehemently opposed these criminal appeals

and submitted that as a matter of fact, the incident took

place in a large agricultural field wherein more than 100

people had attacked the complainant party and assaulted

them at different places, in which, five persons have been

brutally murdered. It is submitted that as the deceased

and the injured persons were assaulted at different

places in a large agricultural field, it would not be

possible for the prosecution witnesses to give graphic

details while specifically assigning role of the accused

persons.

It is further argued that in respect of appellant -

Baldev Ram, prosecution witness Kishna Ram (PW-2) has

specifically named him in his court statements. It is also

submitted that so far as appellant - Ramdev is

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concerned, Shobha Devi (PW-7) has identified him,

though she has not disclosed his father's name, but only

on that count, her evidence cannot be discarded in

respect of appellant - Ramdev.

So far as the delay in trial is concerned, a Co-

ordinate Bench of this Court while dismissing bail

application of one of the accused has already directed to

expedite the trial as per the provisions of Section 309

CrPC and now trial against the accused persons is going

on in an expeditious manner before the trial court.

Learned counsel for the CBI has, therefore, prayed that

these criminal appeals preferred on behalf of the

appellants are liable to be rejected.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused

the material available on record.

From the police, CBI as well as the court statements

of the prosecution witnesses namely Arjun Ram (PW-1),

Kishna Ram (PW-2), Munna Ram (PW-3), Khema Ram

(PW-4), Sonki (PW-5), Jashoda (PW-6), Shobha Devi

(PW-7), Shrawan Ram (PW-8), Bhanwari (PW-9) and

Bidami (PW-10), it is clear that in respect of appellant -

Ramdev, none of the above witnesses has named him in

their court statements.

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So far as appellant - Baldev Ram is concerned,

except one prosecution witness i.e. Kishna Ram (PW-2),

none of the above-named prosecution witnesses has

named him in their court statements. Though, Kishna

Ram (PW-2), in his court statements, has named

appellant - Baldev Ram, but he has not specified his role

in the commission of crime and omnibus allegations have

been levelled against him.

Having regard to the totality of the facts and

circumstances of the case, without expressing any

opinion on the merits of the case, I deem it just and

proper to allow these appeals filed by the appellants

under Section 14-A(2) of the SC/ST Act.

Accordingly, these criminal appeals filed under

Section 14-A(2) of SC/ST Act are allowed. The orders

dated 5.10.2021 and 1.7.2020 passed by the trial court

in Criminal Misc. Case No.168/2021 (Sessions Case

No.68/2015 (133/2015) and Criminal Misc. Bail Case

No.61/2020 respectively are set aside and it is directed

that appellant - Ramdev S/o Shanker Lal and Baldev

Ram S/o Shri Gordhan Ram shall be released on bail in

connection with FIR/CR No.168/2015 of Police Station

Merta City, Distt. Nagaur provided each of them executes

a personal bond in the sum of Rs.50,000/- with two

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sound and solvent sureties of Rs.25,000/- each to the

satisfaction of learned trial court for their appearance

before that court on each and every date of hearing and

whenever called upon to do so till the completion of the

trial.

(VIJAY BISHNOI),J

ms rathore

151-152

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