Court No. - 54
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 28681 of 2018 Applicant :- Smt. Geeta Devi Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Ajay Kumar Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Rahul Chaturvedi,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant as well as learned A.G.A for the State and perused the record.
By means of this application, the applicant who is involved in case crime no.830 of 2017, under Section 498A, 304B IPC and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act Police Station-Bilsanda, District-Pilibhit is seeking enlargement on bail during the trial.
Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that FIR was lodged by the father of the deceased against the applicant and seven other co-accused persons. The allegation is that the deceased was subjected to cruelty and harassment by her in-laws in connection with the demand of additional dowry and due to continuous torture and cruelty, she was tortured till her death. The applicant is the mother-in-law of the deceased and as per prevailing practice of the society, she was named in the FIR. General and omnibus role has been attributed to all the applicants. The next contention is that there is no dying declaration against the applicant nor there is any eye witness account of the alleged incident. The husband of the deceased is already languishing in jail. Learned counsel further submitted that co-accused Guddu Singh(father-in-law) has been granted bail by co-ordinate Bench of this Court on 25.06.2018 in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 23272 of 2018, copy of which has been annexed as Annexure no. 6 to the bail application. The case of the applicant stands on similar footing of that co-accused. The applicant is in jail since 15.12.2017 having no criminal antecedents to her credit.
Learned A.G.A opposed the prayer for bail but could not dispute the aforesaid facts and the legal submissions as argued by the learned counsel for the applicant.
Keeping in view the relationship of the applicant with the deceased, submissions of the learned counsel for the parties and considering the fact that co-accused has been granted bail, I am of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail.
Let the applicant-Smt. Geeta Devi, involved in case crime no.830 of 2017, under Section 498A, 304B IPC and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act Police Station-Bilsanda, District-Pilibhit be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions which are being imposed in the interest of justice:-
(i) THE APPLICANT SHALL FILE AN UNDERTAKING TO THE EFFECT THAT HE SHALL NOT SEEK ANY ADJOURNMENT ON THE DATE 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 HER COUNSEL. IN CASE OF HER ABSENCE, WITHOUT SUFFICIENT CAUSE, THE TRIAL COURT MAY PROCEED AGAINST HER UNDER SECTION 229-A IPC.
(iii) IN CASE, THE APPLICANT MISUSES THE LIBERTY OF BAIL DURING TRIAL AND IN ORDER TO SECURE HER PRESENCE PROCLAMATION UNDER SECTION 82 CR.P.C., MAY BE ISSUED AND IF APPLICANT FAILS TO APPEAR BEFORE THE COURT ON THE DATE FIXED IN SUCH PROCLAMATION, THEN, THE TRIAL COURT SHALL INITIATE PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HER, IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW, UNDER SECTION 174-A IPC.
(iv) THE APPLICANT SHALL REMAIN PRESENT, IN PERSON, BEFORE THE TRIAL COURT ON DATES FIXED FOR (1) OPENING OF THE CASE, (2) FRAMING OF CHARGE AND (3) 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 SUFFICIENT CAUSE, THEN IT SHALL BE OPEN FOR THE TRIAL COURT TO TREAT SUCH DEFAULT AS ABUSE OF LIBERTY OF BAIL AND PROCEED AGAINST HER IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW.
(v) THE TRIAL COURT MAY MAKE ALL POSSIBLE EFFORTS/ENDEAVOUR AND TRY TO CONCLUDE THE TRIAL WITHIN A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR AFTER THE RELEASE OF THE APPLICANT.
However, it is made clear that any wilful violation of above conditions by the applicant, shall have serious repercussion on her bail so granted by this court.
Order Date :- 31.7.2018 Sumit S