IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 27th DAY OF MARCH, 2019 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE B.A.PATIL CRIMINAL PETITION NO.9259/2018 BETWEEN :
1. Smt. Jayamma W/o Venkatagiriyappa Aged about 55 years 2. Smt. Pushpa W/o Chikkegowda @ Chikkaiah Aged about 40 years Petitioner Nos.1 and 2 are R/at Pichanakere Village Harohalli Hobli Kanakapura Taluk-562 117 Ramanagara District 3. Smt. Lingamma W/o Rangaswamy Aged about 50 years R/at Jadenahalli Village Bidadi Hobli-562 109 Ramanagara Taluk & District.
(By Sri Umesh B.N., Advocate) … Petitioners AND :
State of Karnataka by Kanakapura Rural Police Station Ramanagara District Represented by State Public Prosecutor High court Building Bengaluru-560 001.
(By Smt. Namitha Mahesh B.G., HCGP) … Respondent This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 438 of Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioners on bail in the event of their arrest in Crime No.146/2018 of Kanakapura Rural Police Station, Ramanagara District, for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148 and 302 r/w. Section 149 of Indian Penal Code.
This Criminal Petition coming on for orders this day, the Court made the following:-
O R D E R The present petition is filed by accused Nos.3, 4 and 5 under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. praying to release them on anticipatory bail in Crime No.146/2018 of Kanakapura Police Station for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 302 r/w. Section 149 of IPC.
2. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned HCGP for the respondent- State.
3. The gist of the complaint is that on 5.11.2018 near the house of one Venkatagiryappa when the deceased was coming on his pulsur motor bike bearing Regn.No.KA-04-V-8113, accused No.1-Chikkegowda @ Chikkaiah, accused No.2-Kumara restrained him and assaulted with deadly weapons on his head and face, thereby caused his murder. At that time, accused No.3- Smt.Jayamma, accused No.4-Smt.Pushpa, accused No.5- Smt.Lingamma who are there used to provoke and instigate accused Nos.1 and 2 to further smash and kill him and after committing the said act all the accused persons fled away from the place. On the basis of the complaint, a case has been registered.
4. It is the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioners-accused Nos.3, 4 and 5 that he will not press the petition filed by accused Nos.3 and 5, i.e., petitioner Nos.1 and 3 herein as they have been dropped from the charge sheet. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that it is the deceased who was the aggressor who came and tried to assault accused No.1 and others. He only had brought the lethal weapon. He further submitted that there are no serious overt acts as against petitioner No.2-accused No.4. The only allegation which has been made against her is that she instigated accused Nos.1 and 2 to finish the deceased. Except that no other allegations are made against petitioner No.2-accused No.4. As already charge sheet has been filed, she is not required for further investigation or interrogation. She is ready to abide by any conditions imposed by this Court and ready to offer sureties. On these grounds, he prayed to allow the petition and to release petitioner No.2-accused No.4 on anticipatory bail.
5. Per contra, the learned HCGP vehemently argued and submitted that there is ample material to show that petitioner No.2-accused No.4 was present at the place of incident and she instigated accused Nos.1 and 2 to assault and kill the deceased. She further submitted that petitioner No.2-accused No.4 has been involved in a serious offence and as such she is not entitled to be released on anticipatory bail. She is absconding since the date of registration of the case and absconded charge sheet has been filed as against her. On these grounds, she prayed to dismiss the petition.
6. I have carefully and cautiously gone through the submissions made by the learned counsel for the parties and perused the records.
7. On close reading of the contents of the complaint, the only allegation which has been made as against petitioner No.2-accused No.4 is that she was also present at the place of incident and she instigated accused Nos.1 and 2 to assault and uttered the words “finish the deceased”. Except that there are no other allegations made as against her. Already charge sheet has been filed. There is no impediment to release petitioner No.2-accused No.4 on anticipatory bail.
Accordingly, the petition is allowed and accused No.4-petitioner No.2 herein is granted anticipatory bail. In the event of her arrest in Crime No.146/2018 of Kanakapura Police Station for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 302 r/w. Section 149 of IPC, accused No.4-petitioner No.2 herein is ordered to be released, subject to the following conditions:-
i) Accused No.4-Petitioner No.2 Smt.Pushpa shall execute a personal bond for Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees two lakhs only) with two sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the Investigating Officer.
ii) She shall surrender before the Investigating Officer within fifteen days from today.
iii) She shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence in any manner.
iv) She shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial Court without prior permission.
v) She shall not indulge in similar type of criminal activities.
Sd/- JUDGE *ck/-