Court No. - 79
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 17607 of 2019 Applicant :- Kavita Devi Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Anurag Dubey Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Ram Krishna Gautam,J.
By means of this application the applicant Kavita Devi has prayed to release her on bail in Case Crime No. 591 of 2018, u/s 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C., P.S. Bewar, District Mainpuri.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant and learned AGA representing the State. Perused the record.
Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the applicant is innocent and she has been falsely implicated in this very case crime number for which she is languishing in jail since 5.3.2019 without being of any criminal antecedent. Accusation was that those cheques, written in the F.I.R., were got issued and were having no signatures of the Secretary, which were forged and thereby Rs.6,21,200/- have been embezzled by Village Pradhan i.e. the present applicant. As per direction of the Government no bearer cheque for more than Rs. 5000/- was to be issued, whereas bearer cheques, which were of amount above the ceiling limit, were issued. The Bank Manager and the clerk concerned, who has made payment of those cheques, in their statements have categorically stated that those cheques were with valid signatures of Secretary and the Gram Pradhan and in accordance with that they were honoured and money was paid. Investigating officer concluded that the cheques were forged and raised suspicion regarding signatures of the Secretary, but the Bank officials, who made payment on the basis of the cheques, were of the firm view that there were signatures of the Secretary over the cheques, hence no offence punishable under above sections were made out. There is no likelihood of applicant's fleeing from course of justice or tempering with evidence in case she is released on bail. Hence bail has been prayed for during trial.
Learned AGA has vehemently opposed the bail application with this contention that there was ceiling limit of issuing bearer cheque up to Rs. 5000/- whereas all those disputed cheques were in excess of above limit and were bearer cheques, thereby Rs. 6,21,200/- have been syphoned of public money. Signatures of the Secretary were held to be forged by the Village Pradhan i.e. the applicant, who had misused those cheques.
Considered rival arguments made by both the parties. Learned counsel for the applicant has admitted the fact that the accused- applicant was Village Pradhan. The alleged payment through the disputed cheques were made from Gram Nidhi, which was being operated jointly by the Gram Pradhan and the Secretary. The signatures of the accused-applicant over the cheques in question were not disputed, whereas as per applicant, the signatures of the Secretary on those cheques were also not disputed. But as per prosecution case the same is a forged one. The statement of the clerk concerned of the Bank is of this fact that the payment was made by him only after verification of signatures over the cheques through computer as well as through manual. Hence it is a question of fact to be seen during trial as to whether the signatures of the Secretary over disputed cheques were forged or not. But as per admitted fact it is very well apparent that those disputes cheques were bearer cheques and were issued in excess of the ceiling limit and the amount was withdrawn from the Gram Nidhi account through those disputed cheques, which was being operated by the Gram Pradhan and the Secretary jointly.
Under all above facts and circumstances, the nature of accusations, severity of the punishment in the case of conviction and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this court is of the view that the applicant may be enlarged on bail subject to her depositing Rs. 6,21,200/- in the Gram Nidhi Account and on her furnishing receipt of the same before the court concerned with certain conditions.
Accordingly, the bail application is allowed.
Let the applicant, Kavita Devi, involved in above mentioned case crime number be released on bail on her depositing Rs. 6,21,200/- in the Gram Nidhi Account and furnishing receipt of the same before the court concerned and also on her executing a personal bond and two reliable sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to the following conditions:
1. The applicant will not tamper with the evidence.
2. The applicant will not indulge in any criminal activity.
3. The applicant will not pressurize/intimidate the prosecution witnesses and co-operate in the trial.
4. The applicant will appear regularly on each and every date fixed by the trial court unless her personal appearance is exempted through counsel by the court concerned.
In the event of breach of any of the aforesaid conditions, the court below will be at liberty to proceed to cancel her bail.
Order Date :- 26.4.2019 Pcl