High Court
Case Details
Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:172471 Court No. - 73 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 8237 of 2023 Applicant :- Mithilesh Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Raghvendra Prakash Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Santosh Kr. Singh Paliwal
Legal Reasoning
Hon'ble Nalin Kumar Srivastava,J. 1. Second supplementary affidavit filed today is taken on record. 2. Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned AGA and perused the material available on record. 3. This application for anticipatory bail has been filed by applicant- Mithilesh in connection with Case Crime No. 95 of 2020, under sections 498A, 308, 323, 504 IPC and 3/4 D.P. Act, P.S. Shidhari, District Azamgarh. 4. It has been submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that applicant is innocent and he has apprehension of arrest in the above-mentioned case, whereas there is no credible evidence against him. Allegations levelled against the applicant are false. Charge sheet in the matter has been submitted. In case applicant is granted anticipatory bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail and would obey all conditions of bail. 5. Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the applicant nos. 1 to 3 are the brother-in-law, father-in-law and mother-in-law respectively of the victim and are absolutely innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case by the informant only for the purpose of harassment. As per the statement of the witnesses, general role of assault has been assigned to as many as six accused persons, no specific role has been assigned to the applicant. The applicant lives separately from the injured victim. Further submission is that co-accused persons, namely, Rajesh Yadav, her wife namely Sunita Devi (Jeth and Jethani of the victim), Kamlesh, Gharbaran and Lalmati have already been granted bail by Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide orders dated 17.04.2023 & 05.06.2023 passed in Crl. Misc. Anticipatory Bail Applications Nos. 4158 of 2023 & 5808 of 2023 and the case of the applicant stands on identical footing, hence he is entitled to be enlarged on bail on the ground of parity. There is no criminal history against the applicant. Several other submissions have been made on behalf of the applicant to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against him. The circumstances which, as per counsel, led to the false implication of the applicant have also been touched upon at length. 6. It is further submitted that even the injured witness has not been assigned any specific role of assault to the present applicant and since other co-accused persons having an identical role have been granted anticipatory bail, the present applicant is also entitled for the same. It is next submitted that earlier, the protection order in an Application U/s 482 Cr.P.C. No. 4543 of 2021 was granted by the coordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 03.09.2021, which was extended from time to time, but, however, after filing of the charge sheet, the trial court proceeded with the matter and by order dated 06.07.2023, non-bailable warrant was issued against the present applicant as no interim protection order on the said date was available before the trial court and as a matter of fact, the interim protection order was not extended till date. 7. Learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail. 8. Although the charge sheet has been submitted in the matter but in Sushila Aggarwal and others vs. State (NCT of Delhi) and another, (2020) 5 SCC 1, the Hon'ble Apex Court has settled the controversy finally by holding the anticipatory bail need not be of limited duration invariably. In appropriate case, it can continue upto conclusion of trial. It has been further held therein that anticipatory bail granted can, depending on the conduct and behavior of the accused, continue after filing of the charge sheet till end of trial. It has been further held by the Hon'ble Apex Court that while considering an application for grant of anticipatory bail, the court has to consider the nature of the offence, the role of the person, the likelihood of his influencing the course of investigation, or tampering with evidence including intimidating witnesses, llikelihood of fleeing justice, such as leaving the country, etc. It has further been held that Courts ought to be generally guided by considerations such as the nature and gravity of the offences, the role attributed to the applicant, and the facts of the case, while considering whether to grant anticipatory bail, or refuse it. Whether to grant or not is a matter of discretion. 9. Hence, considering the settled principles of law regarding anticipatory bail, submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, nature of accusation, role of applicant and all attending facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion of the merits of the case, in my view, it is a fit case for anticipatory bail to the applicant till conclusion of trial in the matter. 10. The anticipatory bail application is allowed. 11. In the event of arrest of the applicant in the aforesaid case crime, he shall be released on anticipatory bail on his furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 50,000/- with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Court concerned with 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 witness. (iii) The applicant shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which he is accused, or suspected, of the commission of which he is suspected. (iv) The applicant shall not leave India without prior permission of the Court and if they have passport, the same shall be deposited by him before the S.S.P./S.P. concerned. 12. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the Investigating Officer shall be at liberty to file appropriate application for cancellation of anticipatory bail of the applicant in accordance with law. Order Date :- 25.8.2023 Shivangi Digitally signed by :- SHIVANGI YADAV High Court of Judicature at Allahabad