High Court
Case Details
Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:193796 Court No. - 73 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 10440 of 2023 Applicant :- Manoj Singh And Another Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Sati Shanker Tripathi,A.K. Mishra Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Legal Reasoning
6. In this matter, it appears that the dispute prima facie relates to civil nature. Applicant no.1 is said to be the witness of the sale deed and applicant no.2 appears to be a bonafide purchaser. 7. In Sushila Aggarwal and others vs. State (NCT of Delhi) and another, (2020) 5 SCC 1, the Hon'ble Apex Court has held 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, likelihood 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. 8. In Siddharth Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Another, (2022) 1 Supreme Court Cases 676, the Hon'ble Apex Court has held that personal liberty is an important aspect of our constitutional mandate. The occasion to arrest an accused during investigation arises when custodial investigation becomes necessary or it is a heinous crime or where there is a possibility of influencing the witnesses or accused may abscond. Merely because an arrest can be made because it is lawful does not mandate that arrest must be made. A distinction must be made between the existence of the power to arrest and the justification for exercise of it. If arrest is made routine, it can cause incalculable harm to the reputation and self-esteem of a person. If the Investigating Officer has no reason to believe that the accused will abscond or disobey summons and has, in fact, throughout cooperated with the investigation, then there is no compulsion on the officer to arrest the accused. 9. 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 applicants till the filing of police report under section 173 (2) Cr.P.C. before the competent Court. 10. The anticipatory bail application is allowed.. 11. In the event of arrest of the applicants in the aforesaid case crime, they shall be released on anticipatory bail till the filing of police report under section 173 (2) Cr.P.C. before the competent Court on their furnishing a personal bond of Rs.50,000/- with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of Station House Officer of the police station concerned with the following conditions:- (i) The applicants shall make themselves available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required. (ii) The applicants 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/her from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police office. (iii) The applicants shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court and if they have passport, the same shall be deposited by them before the S.S.P./S.P. Concerned. 12. In case of default of any of the conditions, the Investigating Officer shall be at liberty to file appropriate application for cancellation of protection granted to the applicants. Order Date :- 4.10.2023 ss Digitally signed by :- SANDEEP SHARMA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
Arguments
Hon'ble Nalin Kumar Srivastava,J. 1. Heard learned counsel for the applicants, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record. 2. This application has been moved on behalf of the applicants - Manoj Singh and Smt. Kamlesh seeking anticipatory bail in Case Crime No.18 of 2022, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B IPC, Police Station Sadar Bazar, District Mathura. 3. It is alleged in the F.I.R. that the main accused Hemant Yadav executed a sale deed of the property owned by the informant in an unauthorized manner in favour of the applicant no.2 and the applicant no.1 stood as a witness to the sale deed. F.I.R. was lodged on 11.1.2022 and investigation started, which is going on. 4. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the applicants that that applicants are innocent and they have apprehension of arrest in the above-mentioned case, whereas there is no credible evidence against them. They have been falsely implicated in this matter. Allegations levelled against the applicant are false. Investigation is going on into the matter. It is further submitted that the applicant no.2 is the bonafide purchaser who, after payment of requisite consideration amount, has purchased the property in question from co-accused Hemant Yadav and applicant no.1 is only a witness of that sale deed. It is further submitted that the applicant no.2, who is a bonafide purchaser of the property, has absolutely no role in the commission of the alleged crime. Offence, if any, has been committed by main accused Hemant Yadav. So far as applicant no.1 is concerned, no consideration amount has been passed in his favour. He is neither the vendor or vendee in the alleged sale deed. It is further submitted that the co-accused Smt. Puran Devi @ Poonam Devi has been granted anticipatory bail by this Court vide order dated 22.9.2023 passed in Crl. Misc. Anticipatory Bail Application u/s 438 Cr.P.C. No.10429 of 2023. It is further submitted that the applicants are cooperating with the investigation. Applicants have no criminal history to their credit. It is further submitted that in case the applicants are granted anticipatory bail, they shall not misuse the liberty of bail and would obey all conditions of bail. 5. Learned A.G.A. opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail.