Uttarakhand High Court
CRLA/317/2020 on 20 December, 2022
SL. Office Notes,
No. Date reports, orders or COURT'S OR JUDGE'S ORDERS
proceedings or
directions and
Registrar's order
with Signatures
IA No. 3266 of 2022
In
CRLA No. 317 of 2020
Shri Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J.
Shri Alok Kumar Verma, J.
Mr. Aditya Singh, learned counsel for the
appellant.
Mr. J. S. Virk, learned Deputy Advocate
General with Mr. R.K. Joshi, learned Brief Holder
for the State of Uttarakhand.
This is a successive bail application (IA No.
3266 of 2022) filed by appellant - Pradeep Singh
Rathor for suspension of sentence and grant bail
upon appeal.
As his last bail application was rejected on
16.03.2021 by the Coordinate Bench of this Court,
in which, one of us namely Shri Alok Kumar
Verma, J was a member.
Since 01 year and 9 months have already
elapsed since last rejection of the bail application,
we are inclined to take up the successive bail
application as it is pointed out that criminal appeal
could not be taken up for final disposal.
The appellant has been convicted by order
and judgment dated 05.08.2020 of the learned
Additional Sessions Judge, District - Bageshwar,
for the offence punishable under Section 302 of
I.P.C. and to undergo imprisonment for life along
with a fine of Rs. 10,000/- under Section 302 of
I.P.C. with default stipulation.
Admittedly, the case of the prosecution is
based entirely on circumstantial evidence. Some of
the circumstances like subjecting the deceased to
cruelty for demand of dowry immediately before
the occurrence were not believed by the learned
Trial Judge. He also did not find any evidence for
the offence under Section 304 B of I.P.C. and
Section 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act,
1961.
However, keeping in view the fact that the
deceased jumped into a river and that the
appellant, thereafter, jumped into the river,
allegedly, for rescuing her. But he came out but the
deceased died due to drowning. Though, there are
some materials like the inquest report, which
shows that the finger marks were found on the
neck of the deceased, no such injury was found by
the doctor at the time of post-mortem examination.
The co-accused - Basanti Devi, who was also
facing the trial for the same offences along with
the present appellant in this case, has been
acquitted by the learned Trial Judge.
Moreover, the appellant is a permanent
resident of Village Maholi, Thana Kapkot, District
- Bageshwar, hence, there no reasonable
apprehension of his absconding from the process
of justice.
In that view of the matter, this Court is
inclined to suspend the sentence of the appellant
and grant bail to him during the pendency of the
appeal.
Thus, the bail application under Section 389
of the Code is allowed. The sentence is suspended.
Let the applicant - Pradeep Singh Rathor be
released on bail on the suitable terms and
conditions as the learned Additional Sessions
Judge, Bageshwar, deems just and proper.
The matter be listed on 28.03.2023 for final
disposal.
The bail application (IA No. 3266 of 2022)
stands disposed of.
(Alok Kumar Verma, J.) (Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J.)
20.12.2022
(Grant urgent certified copy of this order, as per Rules)
A/-
