Court No. - 89
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 51247 of 2021 Applicant :- Krishna Gopal Sharma Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Birendra Kaushik Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Vikas Budhwar,J.
Heard Sri Birendra Kaushik learned counsel for the applicant and Sri L.D. Rajbhar learned AGA for the State.
This bail application purported to be under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. has been moved on behalf of applicant Krishna Gopal Sharma for seeking bail in Case Crime No.439 of 2021 under Sections 342, 386, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C. registered at Police Station-Farah District-Mathura.
The bail application of the applicant has been rejected by the court below on 8.11.2021.
As per the pleadings set forth in the present bail application an FIR has been lodged against as many as seven accused before Police Station-Farah District-Mathura being FIR No.0439 of 2021 on 16.9.2021 under Sections 386, 420, 467, 468, 471, 419, 342 IPC with an allegation that the complainant is a businessman, when the food-grains have been sought to be transported then the aforesaid accused used to demand ransom.
Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that though his name in the FIR is not found and the applicant is a journalist. He has further submitted that there is no occasion to have demanded any money from the complainant and further he is simply a journalist and he has not been named in the FIR. However, he has been falsely implicated in the present case.
Learned counsel for the applicant has next contended that the co-accused being Jitendra Raghav, Digamber Singh, Naresh Kumar and Bahadur Singh have been granted interim protection in Criminal Misc. Bail Application Nos.44948 of 2021, 44944 of 2021, 44941 of 2021 and 48953 of 2021 and with those co- accused, the applicant is also on parity.
Learned counsel for the applicant has also drawn the attention towards para 21 of the application so as to contend that there is no criminal history and the applicant is languishing jail since 24.10.2021.
Countering the said submission, learned AGA for the State has though opposed the bail but he could not dispute the factual aspect of the matter.
Sri L.D. Rajbhar learned AGA for the State has argued that though applicant herein has not appended gang-chart but he has received instructions, according to which there are two cases pending against the applicant being Case No.741 of 2020, under Sections 380, 427, 411 IPC and Case Crime No.787 of 2020, under Sections 380, 427, 457 and 411 IPC and in both the cases the applicant has been bailed out.
Looking into the nature of the offence, there are no chances of accused fleeing from justice and period of detention in jail, without expressing any opinion on the merits, this case is found to be a fit case for bail.
Courts have taken notice of the overcrowding of jails during the current pandemic situation (Ref.: Suo Motu Writ Petition (c) No. 1/2020, Contagion of COVID 19 Virus in prisons before the Supreme Court of India). These circumstances shall also be factored in while considering bail applications on behalf of accused persons.
In the light of the aforenoted discussion and without making any observations on the merits of the case, the bail application is allowed.
Let the applicant Krishna Gopal Sharma involved in aforesaid crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions that :-
i) The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence by intimidating/ pressurizing the witnesses, during the investigation or trial.
(ii) The applicant shall cooperate in the trial sincerely without seeking any adjournment.
(iii) The applicant shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail.
(iv) The applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
(v) Identity, status and residence proof of the applicant and sureties be verified by the court concerned before the bonds are accepted.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail.
Any observations made in granting bail to the applicants shall not in any way affect the learned Trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses.
Order Date :- 21.12.2021 piyush