Accused Nos. 7 and 14 in Crime No.590 of 2014 of Bedakam Police Station of Kasaragod District have filed this application for regular bail under Section 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure.
2. The case of the prosecution in nutshell was that on 03.12.2014 at 8.45 am, the accused persons form themselves into an unlawful assembly with deadly weapons and attacked the defacto complainant and others who are the workers of the United Democratic Forum while celebrating the victory in a bye- election of the Panchayath. They attacked them with iron rodes and caused injury to them and thereby they have committed the offence punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 324 and 308 read with Section 149 of Indian penal Code.
3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Public Prosecutor opposed the application.
4. The incident occurred on 03.12.2014 and on the basis of the statement given by the defacto complainant, the above crime was registered against 13 named persons and other 30 identifiable persons. It is also seen from the allegations that the injured belong to the United Democratic Front while the accused belong to the rival political party namely Communist Party of India (Marksist). However, the name of the 14th accused was not mentioned in the First Information Report. He was subsequently added. 7th accused was arrested on 05.12.2014 and 14th accused was arrested on 09.11.2014 and they are in jail from that day onwards. The Public Prosecutor submitted that after the incident, some other crimes were also registered in respect of the matters happened in the locality. However, there is no case that the present petitioners were implicated in the case. Except the offence under Section 308 of Indian Penal Code, other offences appears to be not that much grave, though Section 324 of Indian Penal Code also is a grave offence. Custody of the petitioners is not required anymore in connection with the investigation. I am not at this stage going to the question as to whether the allegations are sufficient to attract the offence under Section 308 of Indian Penal Code or not as it is a matter for evidence.
7. Considering the circumstances of this case and also considering the fact that it is a political rivalry which resulted in the registration of the crime, this Court feels that bail can be granted to the petitioners with some stringent conditions.
The application is allowed with the following conditions.
1. The petitioners shall be released on bail on their executing bond for Rs.50,000/-(Rupees fifty thousand only) each with two solvent sureties for the like sum to the satisfaction of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Kasaragod.
2. The petitioners shall appear before the Investigating Officer on the last Saturday of every month between 9.00 a.m and 10.00 a.m till final report is filed.
3. The petitioners shall appear before the Investigating Officer for the purpose of interrogation as and when required in connection with the above crime in writing to do so till final report is filed.
4. The petitioners shall not enter the jurisdiction of Badakam Police Station, except for complying with conditions 2 and 3 except with the permission of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Kasaragod till the final report is filed.
5. The petitioners shall not involve in any other crime of similar nature during the period of bail.
7. The petitioners shall not intimidate or influence the witnesses.
8. The petitioners shall surrender their passport if any, before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Kasaragod within one week from the date of release and if they do not have any passport, file an affidavit to that effect.
9. The petitioners shall not leave State of Kerala without getting prior permission either from the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-I, Kasaragod or from the Court to which, the case will be committed for trial till the disposal of the case.
With the above conditions, this application is allowed.
K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JV JUDGE