High Court
Case Details
Court No. - 80 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 3383 of 2022 Applicant :- Umesh Kumar Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Rajesh K.S. Chaudhary,Sanjay Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Legal Reasoning
After considering the facts of the present case it prima facie appears that; (a) Marriage of the deceased was solemnized in May 2015 and incident took place after five years eight months. One child was born out of the said wedlock. At the time of incident, age of the baby child was one and half year; (b) Applicant is father-in-law of the deceased; (c) Except ligature mark, no other injury was found on the body of the deceased. It is a settled law that while granting bail, the court has to keep in mind the nature of accusation, the nature of the evidence in support thereof, the severity of the punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused, the circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, his role and involvement in the offence, his involvement in other cases and reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with. Taking into account the totality of facts and keeping in mind, the ratio of the Apex Court's judgment in the case of State of Rajasthan v. Balchand @ Baliay (1977) 4 SCC 308, Gudikanti Narasimhulu And Ors., v. Public Prosecutor, High Court Of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1978 SC 429, Ram Govind Upadhyay v. Sudarshan Singh & Ors., (2002) 3 SCC 598, Prasanta Kumar Sarkar v. Ashis Chatterjee & Anr., (2010) 14 SCC 496 and Mahipal v. Rajesh Kumar & Anr., (2020) 2 SCC 118, the larger interest of the public/State and other circumstances, but without expressing any opinion on the merits, I am of the view that it is a fit case for grant of bail. Hence, the present bail application is allowed. Let applicant, Umesh Kumar be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on his furnishing a personal bond and two reliable sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to the following conditions: (i) The applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat, or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence. (ii) The applicant shall not pressurize/intimidate the prosecution witnesses. (iii) The applicant shall remain present, in person, before the trial court on the dates fixed for (i) opening of the case, (ii) framing of charge and (iii) recording of statement under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. (iv) The applicant shall file an undertaking to the effect that he shall not seek any adjournment on the dates fixed for evidence when the witnesses are present in the trial court. (v) The applicant shall remain present before the trial court on each date fixed, either personally or through his counsel. (vi) The applicant shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail. If in the opinion of the trial court that absence of the applicant is deliberate or without sufficient cause, then it shall be open for the trial court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed in accordance with law. The trial court may make all possible efforts/endeavour and try to conclude the trial expeditiously in accordance with law after the release of the applicant, if there is no other legal impediment. It is made clear that the observations made in this order are limited to the purpose of determination of this bail application and will in no way be construed as an expression on the merits of the case. The trial court shall be absolutely free to arrive at its independent conclusions on the basis of evidence led unaffected by anything said in this order. The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by the applicant alongwith a self attested identity proof of the said person (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number to which the said Aadhar Card is linked. The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing. Order Date :- 10.2.2022 T. Sinha Digitally signed by TRIPTI SINHA Date: 2022.02.11 12:14:18 IST Reason: Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
Arguments
Heard Shri Rajesh K.S. Chaudhary and Shri Sanjay Singh, learned counsels for the applicant and learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material on record. The present bail application has been filed on behalf of applicant Umesh Kumar under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, with a prayer to release him on bail in Case Crime No. 11 of 2021 for offence punishable under Sections 498A, 304B of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3/4 of Dowry Prohibition Act, registered at Police Station Jawan, District Aligarh, during pendency of the trial, after rejecting the bail application of the applicant by Sessions Judge, Aligarh vide order dated 6.1.2022. Brief facts of the case are that the First Information Report dated 7.1.2021 has been lodged by brother of the deceased against the husband, father-in-law (applicant), mother-in-law, brother-in-law and sister-in-law stating therein that marriage of his sister with Arjun Thakur was solemnized on 3.5.2015. He gave gift as per his capacity in the marriage, but the applicant and other relatives of the husband of the deceased did not satisfy with the dowry given in the marriage. When his sister had come to the first informant's house, she told him and her mother that her in-laws always used to torture her for demand of dowry and demanded one car as additional dowry. In the meantime one girl child was born. On 7.1.2021 he received information that his sister has died. He along with his family members went to the house of his sister. At that time dead body of his sister was lying on the tube well of Vishnu and sign of hanging was visible on her neck. After lodging the first information report on 7.1.2021 at 21.43 hours, inquest of the dead body was conducted on 8.1.2021 at 9.00 a.m. Postmortem of the dead body was conducted on 8.1.2021 at about 12.40 p.m wherein hyoid bone of the deceased was found intact. Cause of death was found to be asphyxia as a result of ante mortem hanging. Except ligature mark no other injury was found on the body of the deceased. After completing the investigation, Investigating Officer submitted charge sheet against the husband and elder brother- in-law of the deceased. The applicant was arrested on 26.11.2021. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case due to ulterior motive. The applicant is father-in-law of the deceased. The applicant was living separately with his wife. Except ligature mark no other injury has been found on the body of the deceased. Marriage of the deceased was solemnized in May 2015. In the meantime, no other complaint has been made against the applicant. General role of demand of dowry as well as cruelty has been made. Mother-in-law of the deceased has been granted bail by this Court on 9.2.2022. He has next argued that the applicant has no previous criminal history and if the applicant is released on bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail. He is not convicted in cognizable offence by any Court. Per contra, learned AGA has supported the order passed by the Sessions court and vehemently opposed the prayer for grant of bail to the applicant and submits that the allegations involved are very serious in nature and the delay in lodging the FIR cannot be said to be fatal to the case at this juncture while considering the application of bail. But he could not point out any material to the contrary. He further submits that in case the applicant is released on bail, he will again indulge in similar activities and will misuse the liberty of bail.