High Court
Case Details
Court No. - 74 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 50024 of 2022 Applicant :- Gurjinder Singh Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Ramesh Kumar Shukla Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Shiv Shanker Prasad,J.
Legal Reasoning
Heard Mr. Ramesh Kumar Shukla, learned counsel for the applicant, learned counsel for the State as well as perused the entire material available on record. The present bail application has been filed by the applicant-Gurjinder Singh a prayer to enlarge him on bail in Crime No. Nil of 2019 (State vs. Kuldeep & Others) in pursuance of first information report no. 0320 of 2019 dated 20th July, 2019 413 of 2022, under Sections 60, 63, 72 of U.P. Excise Act and Section 420 I.P.C. Police Station-Jhijhna, District-Shamli pending in the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Shamli, during the pendency of trial. As per the prosecution case, on 20th July, 2019 at 04.10 p.m., the informant and other police personnels caught a Truck being Truck No. RJ 31GA 1066, which was coming from Karnal Yamuna Bridge (Haryana side), after checking, it was found that there were boxes of liquor which were counted and all the boxes were covered with rappers in the name and style of "Evening Moment Premium Whysky Sarao Distillry for sale in Arunchal Pradesh only". The total boxes were 700, in each box there were 12 bottles of 750 ml., 375 ml and 180 ml. respectively. The driver, namely, Kuldeep Singh and helper, namely, Makhan Singh respectively of the said truck were also arrested by the Police. When the driver of the truck was asked about the recovered liquor, he told that the owner of the said truck is the applicant and he had asked to them to take the said liquors to Jharkhand from which they would have earned much money. Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant is absolutely innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case due to some ulterior motive. The applicant has not been arrested from the spot nor anything incriminating article or material has been recovered either from the possession of the applicant or on his pointing out. The recovery of 100 cartoons of liquor were made from the joint possession of the aforesaid co- accused. There is no public witness of the alleged recovery. Further submission is that the offences are triable by court of Magistrate. It is further submitted that the co-accused, namely, Makhan Singh and Kuldeep Singh, who are helper and driver of the said truck have already been enlarged on bail by this Court vide orders dated 16th September, 2019 and 23rd September, 2019 passed in Criminal Misc. Bail Application Nos.36073 of 2019 and 37994 of 2019 respectively. The case of the present applicant is similar and identical to that of the aforesaid co- accused. As such the present applicant is also liable to be enlarged on bail. The applicant has no previous criminal antecedents to his credit except the present one. It is next contended that there is no possibility of the applicant of fleeing away from the judicial process or tampering with the witnesses and in case, the applicant is enlarged on bail, the applicant shall not misuse the liberty of bail. The applicant is in jail since 14th September, 2022. Per contra learned A.G.A. and the learned counsel for the complainant have opposed the bail prayer of the applicant but they could not dispute the factual submissions as urged by the learned counsel for the applicant. Considering the nature of the offence, provision for initiation of cases and release the accused, material/evidence brought on record, complicity of the accused, severity of punishment, the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties, as well as the dictum of Apex Court in the case of Dataram Singh Versus State of U.P. and another, reported in (2018) 3 SCC 22, let the applicant involved in aforesaid case crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two local sureties each of the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned, subject to the following conditions:- (i) 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 court. In case of default of this condition, it shall be open for the trial court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law. (ii) The applicant shall remain present before the trial court on each date fixed, either personally or through his counsel. In case of his absence, without sufÏcient cause, the trial court may proceed against him under Section 229- A of the Indian Penal Code. (iii) In case, the applicant misuses the liberty of bail during trial and in order to secure his presence proclamation under Section 82 Cr.P.C. is issued and the applicant fails to appear before the court on the date fixed in such proclamation, then, the trial court shall initiate proceedings against him, in accordance with law, under Section 174-A of the Indian Penal Code. (iv) 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 Cr.P.C. If in the opinion of the trial court absence of the applicant is deliberate or without sufÏcient cause, then it shall be open for the trial court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed against him in accordance with law. It is clarified that the observations, if any, made in this order are strictly confined to the disposal of the bail application and must not be construed to have any reflection on the ultimate merits of the case. (Shiv Shanker Prasad, J.) Order Date :- 25.11.2022 Sushil/- Digitally signed by SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH Date: 2022.11.25 18:03:27 IST Reason: Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad