High Court
Case Details
Court No. - 86 Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 3608 of 2024 Appellant :- Shahjad Respondent :- State of U.P. Counsel for Appellant :- Kuldeep Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Syed Ali Imam
Legal Reasoning
Hon'ble Nalin Kumar Srivastava,J. Order on appeal 1. Admit. 2. Notice on behalf of respondent no. 1 has been accepted by learned A.G.A. 3. Trial Court record is available before the Court, office to prepare paper book. 4. List this appeal for hearing in due course. Order on Bail Application: 1. This Criminal appeal under Section 374 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code has been preferred by the appellant Shahjad against the conviction and sentence recorded vide judgment and order dated 12.3.2024 passed by Additional Sessions Judge/ FTC, Court Room No. 03, Bulandshahr in Sessions Trial No. 439 of 2019, arising out of case crime no. 134 of 2019 under Sections 498A, 304B I.P.C. and 3/4 D.P. Act, P.S.-Aurangabad, District- Bulandshahr. The maximum punishment awarded to the appellant by the trial Court under Section 304-B I.P.C. is of 8 years. 2. Heard learned Counsel for the appellant-applicant, learned counsel for the informant as well as the learned AGA for the State. 3. By means of the bail application, the appellant-applicant seeks suspension of sentence / grant of bail. 4. In a bride burn case, a dowry death of the deceased was caused and in the post mortem report the cause of death was found to be as ante mortem burn injuries. After initiation of prosecution, the present accused appellant was convicted under Section 304-B, 498-A I.P.C. and Section 4 D.P. Act and was sentenced as mentioned herein above. 5. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the appellant- applicant that the appellant is innocent and has falsely been implicated. It has been further submitted that the conviction and sentence imposed by the learned trial Judge is against the weight of evidence on record. The trial court has misread the evidence on record and convicted the appellant. The prosecution has not been able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. 6. It is further submitted that there is no specific allegation against the applicant. It is further submitted that applicant was not present at the place of incident. It is next submitted that statement of PW- 1, who was informant of this case, has been recorded before the trial court wherein, he has given several contradictory versions from the F.I.R. as well as his statement recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C. It is further submitted that deceased had died an accidental death in the house of her Jethani Smt. Madina @ Nagina while cooking the food and soon before her death, she was not subjected to any kind of harassment, as such no offence under Section 304-B IPC is not made out against the applicant. 7. It is next submitted that the present appellant has nothing to do with the house of the Jethani of the deceased and he was living in his house along with his other family members and hence the death was not caused in the house of the accused appellant. It is further submitted that in the site plan prepared by the I.O. the death of the deceased by burning has been shown not in the house of the present accused appellant but in the house of Smt. Madina @ Nagina. It is further submitted that during trial he had been in jail for a period of about 3 years and now again since 12.3.2024 he is languishing in jail. 8. It is also submitted that marriage with the applicant was second marriage of the deceased and divorce was done of first marriage due to her ill health and her treatment was going on since long. There is no independent witness to support the prosecution story. There is no dying declaration of the deceased. Several other submissions in order to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against the applicant have also been placed forth before the Court. The circumstances which, according to the counsel, led to the false implication of the accused has also been touched upon at length. 9. Another limb of argument is that the appellant was on bail during trial and has not misused the liberty of bail. Since there is no likelihood of early hearing of the appeal in near future, the appellant may be released on bail pending appeal. Besides the above submissions, learned counsel for the appellant has also tried to touch upon at length the circumstances which led to the false implication of accused - appellant. 10. On the other hand, learned AGA and learned counsel for the informant vehemently opposed the bail application. It is vehemently submitted that the prosecution witnesses have supported the prosecution case in all material terms and they have affirmed the factum of cruelty and harassment caused to the deceased for the sake of additional dowry and her death by burning in otherwise than in natural circumstances. On these grounds prayer for rejection of bail application has been made. 11. I have considered the rival submissions made by learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the entire record including the impugned judgment. 12. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, sentence awarded to the appellant, the evidence available on record particularly in respect of place of occurrence and the findings recorded by the trial court thereon, appellant was on bail during trial but no instance of misuse of the bail has been brought to the notice of the Court and the fact that the appeal may take some time for its final disposal, without further commenting on the merits of the case, I am inclined to release the appellant on bail. 13. Let the above named accused-appellant be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of Court concerned. 14. On acceptance of bail bond and personal bonds, the trial court shall transmit photostat copies thereof to this Court for being kept on record. 15. However, during pendency of the appeal, the execution of sentence / order appealed against shall remain suspended the fine amount, as imposed by the trial Court, shall be deposited by the accused-appellant within a period of one month from the date of release. Order Date :- 13.8.2024 Fhd