Court No. - 64
Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 5835 of 2021 Appellant :- Keshav Gautam Respondent :- State Of U.P. Through Secretary Home And Another Counsel for Appellant :- Bhanu Prakash Verma Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Love Lesh Kumar Verma
Hon'ble Saumitra Dayal Singh,J.
2. Heard Sri Bhanu Prakash Verma, learned counsel for the appellant; Sri Love Lesh Kumar Verma; Sri Ankit Srivastava, learned AGA for the State and perused the material placed on record.
3. This criminal appeal under Section 14-A(2) of The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 has been preferred by the appellant with the prayer to set aside the order dated 22.11.2021, passed by learned Special Judge S.C./S.T. (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Mathura, in Case Crime No. 274 of 2021, under Sections - 304, 506 I.P.C. and Section 3(2)(V) S.C./S.T. (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Police Station - Baldeo, District - Mathura, whereby bail application of the appellant has been rejected.
4. At the outset, learned counsel for the appellant submits, against the FIR lodged on 02.9.2021, the appellant is in confinement since 03.9.2021; the appellant claims to have cooperated in the investigation. In any case he is not shown to have unduly evaded arrest; the appellant has no criminal history; chargesheet has already been submitted yet, trial has not commenced. Therefore, there is no hope of early conclusion of the trial; on prima facie basis, it has been submitted by learned counsel for the appellant that undisputedly the victim child was suffering from Dengue for which he was undergoing treatment at a medical establishment; owing to other disputes and collateral reasons a false prosecution has emerged; the ante mortem injuries noted in the post mortem report are not supported by the hospital admission documents of the deceased; even otherwise there is no corroborative material to support the allegation of assault. Also, it has been submitted, the allegations of violation under SC/ST Act are general and made to lend colour to the story.
5. Learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the prayer for bail of the appellant.
6. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having perused the record, at present, the order passed by the learned court below rejecting the bail application filed by the appellant, cannot be sustained.
7. Without drawing any inference as to facts, in view of the above noted facts & submissions and having regard to the status of the evidence, as has been shown to exist on record, let the appellant be enlarged on bail at this stage.
8. Accordingly, this appeal is allowed and the impugned order dated 22.11.2021, rejecting the bail of the appellant is set aside.
9. Let the accused-appellant, namely, Keshav Gautam, involved in the aforesaid crime be released on bail on her furnishing personal bonds and two sureties each of the like amount to the satisfaction of Court concerned subject to the condition that appellant shall cooperate in the trial and will not jump the bail.
Order Date :- 20.12.2021 Faraz Digitally signed by SAUMITRA DAYAL SINGH Date: 2021.12.20 18:18:59 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad