Court No. - 68
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 15817 of 2021 Applicant :- Avneesh And Another Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Sunil Vashisth Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.
Heard Sri Sunil Vashisth, learned counsel for the applicants, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record of the case.
The present bail application has been filed on behalf of applicants, Avneesh and Divakar with a prayer to release them on bail in Case Crime No. 134 of 2021, under Sections 420, 468, 471 of I.P.C., Police Station- Loni, District- Ghaziabad, during pendency of trial.
It has been submitted by learned counsel for the applicants that the applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the instant case. It is further submitted that the first information report of the present case has been lodged against the mobile number of some unknown person under Sections 386 & 507 I.P.C.; the applicants name have came into light on the basis of confessional statement of co-accused Haroon; and they have been implicated and sent for judicial custody under Sections 420, 468, 471 of I.P.C.; there is no material evidence on record has been collected with regard to the sale of SIM. Charge-sheet has been submitted against the applicants and the applicants are no more required for the purpose of investigation. He next contended that the co-accused Khurshid has been enlarged on bail in Case Crime No. 134 of 2021 by Coordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 22.07.2021 in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.20178 of 2021. It is further submitted that there is no other criminal antecedent to their credit. It is next submitted that there is also no possibility of the applicants either fleeing away from the judicial process or tampering with the witnesses. The applicants, who are languishing in jail since 14.02.2021 undertakes that they will not misuse the liberty, if granted. It has also been pointed out that in the wake of heavy pendency of cases in the Court, there is no likelihood of any early conclusion of trial.
Per contra learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for bail. In case the applicants are released on bail, they will again indulge in similar activities and will misuse the liberty of bail.
It is settled position of law that bail is the rule and committal to jail is an exception in the case of State of Rajasthan Vs. Balchand @ Baliay (1977) 4 SCC 308, the Apex Court observed that refusal of bail is a restriction on the personal liberty of the individual guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and opined para 2 "The basic rule may perhaps be tersely put as bail, not jail, except where there are circumstances suggestive of fleeing from justice or thwarting the course of justice or creating other troubles in the shape of repeating offences or intimidating witnesses and the like, by the petitioner who seeks enlargement on bail from the court. We do. not intend to be exhaustive but only illustrative." and considering the facts of the case and keeping in mind, the ratio of the Apex Court's judgment in the case of Gudikanti Narasimhulu And Ors vs Public Prosecutor, High Court Of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1978 SC 429, larger mandate of Article 21 of the constitution of India, the nature of accusations, the nature of evidence in support thereof, the severity of punishment which conviction will entail, the character of the accused-applicant, circumstances which are peculiar to the accused, reasonable possibility of securing the presence of the accused at the trial, reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being tampered with, the larger interest of the public/ State and other circumstances, but without expressing any opinion on the merits, I am of the view that it is a fit case for grant of bail.
Let applicants, Avneesh and Divakar be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on their furnishing a personal bond each and two reliable sureties each of the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions-
1. The applicants shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence by intimidating/ pressurizing the witnesses, during the investigation or trial.
2. The applicants shall cooperate in the trial sincerely without seeking any adjournment.
3. The applicants shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail.
4. In case the applicants have been enlarged on short term bail as per the order of committee constituted under the orders of Hon'ble Supreme Court his/her bail shall be effective after the period of short-term bail comes to an end.
5. The applicants shall be enlarged on bail on execution of personal bond each without sureties each till normal functioning of the courts is restored. The accused will furnish sureties to the satisfaction of the court below within a month after normal functioning of the courts are restored.
It is clarified that anything said in this order is limited to the purpose of determination of this bail application and will in no way be construed as an expression on the merits of the case. The trial court shall be absolutely free to arrive at its independent conclusions on the basis of evidence led unaffected by anything said in this order.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail.
The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by the petitioner along-with a self attested identity proof of the said person (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number to which the said Aadhar Card is linked.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
Order Date :- 29.7.2021 Ishan