High Court
Case Details
Court No. - 83 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 47992 of 2018 Applicant :- Kunwarpal And Another Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Sanjive Kumar Gupta,Ghan Shyam Das Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Ashok Kumar Yadav,Kumar Vinay Singh Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J. 1. List has been revised.
Legal Reasoning
2. Heard Sri Kamal Krishna, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Sri Ghan Shyam Das, learned counsel for the applicants, Sri Kumar Vinay Singh, learned counsel for the complainant as well as Sri Vibhav Anand Singh, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record. 3. Applicants seek bail in Case Crime No. 856 of 2017, under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 34 I.P.C., Police Station Dataganj, District Budaun, during the pendency of trial. 4. As per prosecution story, the applicants alongwith three other co-accused persons, are said to have indiscriminately fired at the deceased person Mahipal Singh and his brothers Ajay Pal and Santosh. As a result of the said gunshot, Mahipal is said to have died instantaneously and the injured persons are said to have run away from the scene of occurrence. 5. Learned Senior Counsel for the applicants has stated that the applicants are absolutely innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case with a view to cause unnecessary harassment and to victimize them. He has stated that the three co-accused persons Nareshpal, Shivram and Hariom were exonerated by the police during the investigation, as such, the final report (charge sheet) was filed with respect to the applicants only. Learned Senior Counsel has further stated that during trial, the statements of four witnesses were recorded of which three witnesses were of fact i.e. P.W. 1 who was the first informant and P.W. 2 and 4 were the eye-witness, who were stated to be present at the time of occurrence alongwith the deceased person. After recording their statements and cross- examination, the other named accused persons Nareshpal, Shivram and Hariom were summoned by the trial court by invoking the powers under Section 319 Cr.P.C. Learned counsel has also stated the three co-accused persons Nareshpal, Shivram and Hariom have already been enlarged on bail by a co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 28.2.2020, 12.4.2022 and 29.1.2020 passed in CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION Nos.- 9175 of 2020, 1622 of 2022 and 4162 of 2020 respectively. Learned counsel has submitted that the case of the applicant is at par with the three co-accused persons, who have been enlarged on bail. It is stated that the said story becomes doubtful on the ground that none of the eye-witnesses, who were accompanying the deceased person, has sustained injuries, whatsoever. The FIR is delayed by fifteen hours and there is no explanation of the said delay caused. Learned Senior Counsel has submitted that even the statement of P.W. 1 has been recorded during the trial after the summoning of additional accused u/s 319 Cr.P.C., although only her cross examination has been taken up, no fresh examination-in-chief has been recordeed with respect to the other co-accused persons, which is against the judicial propriety. 6. Several other submissions have been made on behalf of the applicants to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against them. The circumstances which, as per counsel, led to the false implication of the applicants have also been touched upon at length. There is no criminal history of the applicants. The applicants are languishing in jail since 30.12.2017. In case, the applicants are released on bail, they will not misuse the liberty of bail. 7. Per contra, learned A.G.A. and learned counsel for the complainant have vehemently opposed the bail application and have stated that there is recovery of country made pistol from the applicants, which matches with the bullets recovered by the investigating officer. Learned counsel for the complainant has stated that the witnesses are natural witnesses and they were present at the time of offence and had rushed to the village to inform the wife of the deceased person, who had thereupon, come to the police station to lodge the FIR. Learned counsel has further stated that even the investigating officer has not exonerated the applicants. The case of the applicants is on a different footing to the three co-accused persons, who have been enlarged on bail as they were summoned under Section 319 Cr.P.C. but unable to dispute the submissions raised by the learned counsel for the applicants. 8. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, the evidence on record, taking into account the fact that the trial is going on and there is no likelihood of the early conclusion of trial and also the fact that the FIR is delayed and although the country made pistol is stated to have matched with the bullets recovered from the scene, and also taking into consideration that the case of the applicant is at par with the co-accused persons, who have been enlarged on bail, I find it a fit case for bail. The bail application is allowed. 9. Let the applicants- Kunwarpal and Amarpal, involved in aforementioned case crime number be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two heavy sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions. i. The applicants will not tamper with the evidence during the trial. ii. The applicants will not pressurize/ intimidate the prosecution witness. iii. The applicants will appear before the trial court on the date fixed, unless personal presence is exempted. iv. The applicants shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail. v. 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 from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence. 10. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the prosecution shall be at liberty to move bail cancellation application before this Court. 11. Identity, status and residence proof of the applicants and sureties be verified by the court concerned before the bonds are accepted. 12. It is directed that the court below may proceed with the trial and reach at the logical conclusion expeditiously, if there is no legal impediment. 13. It is made clear that observations made in granting bail to the applicants shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion on the testimony of the witnesses. Order Date :- 16.1.2023 Shalini Digitally signed by :- SHALINI JAISWAL High Court of Judicature at Allahabad