Court No. - 79
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 28201 of 2018 Applicant :- Ahmed Ali Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Dharmendra Singhal,Shivendra Raj Singhal Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Saurabh Shyam Shamshery,J.
1. Heard Shri Dharmendra Singhal, learned senior counsel assisted by Shri S.R. Singhal, learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A.for the State and perused the record.
2. The applicant has approached this Court by way of filing the present Criminal Misc. Bail Application seeking enlargement on bail in Case Crime No. 146 of 2016, under Section 302 I.P.C., Police Station-Mandi, District- Saharanpur after rejection of his Bail Application vide order dated 29.09.2017 passed by learned Sessions Judge, Saharanpur.
3. Learned Senior Counsel for the applicant submitted that alleged occurrence took place on 07.05.2016. It was alleged that applicant poured kerosene oil on the deceased and set ablaze. Allegedly deceased had recorded Dying Declaration stating the same version.
4. Learned Senior Counsel submitted that during trial, statement of witnesses of fact are recorded. Questionnaires were put to Doctor (PW-5) about the state of the deceased while giving the dying declaration. According to reply he was 100 % burned. The applicant is in jail since 20.07.2016 i.e. for about 4 years.
5. Learned Senior Counsel has relied upon State of Kerala Vs Raneef: 2011(1) SCC 784, Sanjay Chandra Vs. CBI: 2012(1) SCC 40: Angela Harish Sontakke Vs. State of Maharashtra: 2021(3) SCC 723, on the issue that delay in concluding the trial is also one of the factor which should be taken into consideration and also on Laxman Vs. State of Maharashtra: AIR 2002 SC 2973, Jayamma and Another Vs. State of Karnataka (Criminal Appeal Nos.758 of 2010 and 573 of 2016, dated 07.05.2021) that the declarant must be in a condition to make the statement in question and dying declaration must be truthful one and voluntarily genuine and further that a person having 80% burn injuries would being in a state of delusion and hallucination.
6. Learned AGA has submitted that there are very serious and direct allegations against the applicant who set ablaze the deceased, which was witnessed by eye-witness also. The judgment relied by learned Senior Counsel are distinguishable on facts of the present case. In case of conviction applicant could be convicted upto imprisonment of life. Court may direct for time bound conclusion of trial.
7. Considering the materials on record and submissions of parties, it is apparent that there are very serious charges against the applicant who pour kerosene on the deceased and set him ablaze. The total body surface area burnt was approximately 70 per cent. The question about veracity and evidentially value of Dying Declaration will be decided by the learned Trial Court. Any comment of the Court at this stage would affect the trial. The prolong incarceration is not a sole ground to bail in a case where in the event of conviction, sentence would be upto life imprisonment. Therefore, no case of bail is made out at this stage.
8. The bail application is accordingly dismissed. However the learned Trial Court is directed to expedite the trial and endeavour to conclude it preferably within 18 months from today.
Order Date :- 29.7.2021 pks