High Court
Case Details
Court No. - 65 Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 4978 of 2022 Appellant :- Saleem Chowdhary Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Appellant :- Mohammad Faisal Khan Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Ajay Kumar Mishra Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Legal Reasoning
After considering the facts of the present case it prima facie appears that; (a) at the time of incident the victim was 21 years of age; (b) the victim went to the house of the appellant and made physical relation with him on her own free and sweet will and agreed to solemnize marriage with the appellant; (c) The appellant is languishing in jail since 20.4.2022. 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 criminal appeal is allowed and impugned order dated 17.6.2022, is set aside. Let appellant/applicant, Saleem Chowdhary 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 along-with 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 :- 16.12.2022 SP Digitally signed by SALIM PRAVEJ Date: 2022.12.17 17:08:44 IST Reason: Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
Arguments
Heard Shri Mohammad Faisal Khan, learned counsel for the appellant, Shri U.P. Singh, learned A.G.A. for the State and Shri Ajay Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the second respondent and perused the material on record. The present criminal appeal under Section 14-A(2) Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been filed by the appellant Saleem Chowdhary to set aside the impugned order dated 17.6.2022, whereby the Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Amroha has rejected the bail application No. 1087 of 2022 of the appellant moved by him in Case Crime No. 75 of 2022, under Sections 376, 342 of I.P.C. and Section 3(2)(V) of SC/ST Act, Police Station Said Nagli District Amroha. Brief facts of the case are that the first information report dated 17.4.2022 was lodged by the victim against the appellant stating that on 14.4.2022 the victim was returning from market after purchasing medicines along with her sister, on the way appellant caught hold the victim and took in a field and committed rape with her. On the same day, at 10 p.m. the appellant reached the house of the victim and apologized and promised to solemnize marriage with her. After that the victim went to the relative of the appellant where the appellant made physical relation with the victim. On 16.4.2022 in the morning the appellant fled away from the house. After lodging of the first information report, medical examination of the victim was conducted on 18.4.2022. The statement of the victim under Section 161 CrPC was recorded on 19.4.2022. The statement of the victim under Section 164 CrPC was recorded on 19.4.2022. After recording the statements of other prosecution witnesses, charge sheet had been submitted against the appellant. The appellant was arrested on 20.4.2022. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the appellant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case due to ulterior motive. It is further submitted that at the time of incident the victim was 21 years old. It is further submitted that the victim was consenting party and she went with the appellant in the place of relative of appellant on her own free and sweet will. It is further submitted that appellant made physical relation with the victim when the elder sister of the victim was present in the adjoining room. The victim was married lady at the time of incident and she had lodged other FIRs against other persons for the offence of committing rape and forcibly abortion. It is next submitted that appellant has no criminal history. It is next submitted that appellant is languishing in jail since 20.4.2022. It is further submitted that there is no possibility of the appellant of fleeing away after being released on bail or tampering with the witnesses. In case the appellant is enlarged on bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail. Per contra, learned A.G.A. has supported the order passed by the Sessions court and vehemently opposed the prayer for grant of bail to the applicant. 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.