High Court
Case Details
Court No. - 92 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 4466 of 2022 Applicant :- Rifakat Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Vinod Shankar Tripathi,Vijai Shanker Tripathi Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Vikas Budhwar,J.
Legal Reasoning
Heard Sri Vinod Shankar Tripathi, learned counsel for the applicant, and Sri Pushkar Srivastava, the learned State Law Offiver for the State. This bail application purported to be under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. has been moved on behalf of applicant- Rifaqat for enlarging him on bail in Case Crime No.1043 of 2021, under Section 8/21/29 of the N.D.P.S. registered at Police Station- Baradari, District- Bareilly. The bail application so preferred by the applicant has been rejected by the court below on 1.1.2022. Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that a first information report has been lodged by Sub-Inspector Sunil Rathi before P.S. Baradari, District Bareilly being FIR no.0143of 2021 on 12.11.2021 under the aforesaid Sections against the 4 accused inclusive of the applicant wherein 174 gms. of Smack has been sought to be recovered. Learned counsel for the applicant has further argued that he has been falsely implicated in the case in question as he has not committed any such offence, and there was no independent witness, who could see the recovery. Learned counsel for the applicant has further argued that even if the case of the prosecution is taken into face value then to be quantity of the contraband so sought to be recovered from the applicant is below the commercial value, as notified in item no. 56 of the schedule appended of Section 2 of the N.D.P.S. Act wherein commercial quantity is 250 gram as well as the recovery so sought to be shows is 174 grams. Learned counsel for the applicant has invited the attention of this Court towards paragraph-18 so as to contend that so far as 9 cases shown to be pending against the applicant are concerned 5 cases in Case Crime No.230 of 2019, Case Crime No.295 of 2019, Case Crime No.62 of 2020, Case Crime No.27 of 2020, Case Crime No.27 of 2020 and Case Crime No.378 of 2019 no charge sheet has been submitted against him. So far as Case Crime No. 389 of 2019, Case Crime No.493A of 2019, Case Crime No.683 of 2010, he has been acquitted by the court below. However, so far as Case Crime No.292 of 2015 has been enlarged on bail. Learned counsel for the applicant has also annexed the copy of the orders supporting the said fact. Learned counsel for the applicant has further argued that so far as Case Crime No.1091 of 2021 is concerned, he has preferred Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.4477 of 2022, similarly so far as Case Crime No.236 of 2021, he has preferred Criminal Bail Application No.1870 of 2022 and likewise so far as Case Crime No.745 of 2021, he has preferred Bail Application No.4809 of 2022 which are pending before this court. Thus, he has satisfactorily explained the criminal history. Learned counsel for the applicant has further argued that he is unnecessarily languishing in jail since 27.11.2021. If he is enlarged on bail, he will not misuse the liberty, he be enlarged on bail. Countering the said submission, the learned A.G.A. has opposed the bail while arguing that offence has been committed by the applicant, but he could not dispute the fact that the contraband article so recovered from the applicant's possession was below commercial quantity, as well as criminal history has been explained. Considering the submissions so advanced by the learned counsel for the parties on the question of bail, this Court prima facie finds that this is a fit case for grant of bail, as the contraband article recovered from the applicant is below the commercial quantity and the applicant is languishing in jail since 27.11.2021, as also looking into the nature of acquisition, the evidence collected by the I.O, in support of the charge, gravity of offence, nature and severity of the punishment in the case of conviction, complicity of accused and all attending circumstances. Courts have taken notice of the overcrowding of jails during the current pandemic situation (Ref.: Suo Motu Writ Petition (c) No. 1/2020, Contagion of COVID 19 Virus in prisons before the Supreme Court of India). These circumstances shall also be factored in while considering bail applications on behalf of accused persons. In the light of the aforenoted discussion and without making any observations on the merits of the case, the bail application is allowed. Let the applicant- Rifaqat involved in aforesaid crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions that :- i) The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence by intimidating/ pressurizing the witnesses, during the investigation or trial. (ii) The applicant shall cooperate in the trial sincerely without seeking any adjournment. (iii) The applicant shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail. (iv) 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 to any police officer or tamper with the evidence. (v) Identity, status and residence proof of the applicant and sureties be verified by the court concerned before the bonds are accepted. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail. Any observations made in granting bail to the applicant shall not in any way affect the learned Trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses. Taking into consideration that Covid-19 is continuing and due to which certified copy would not be possible to be obtained by the applicant, therefore, if a copy of this order downloaded from the official website of Allahabad High Court and self attested by the counsel for the applicant is placed before the Court, the same would be entertained. Order Date :- 15.2.2022 piyush Digitally signed by PIYUSH KUMAR Date: 2022.02.21 10:18:29 IST Reason: Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad