Court No. - 88
Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 2188 of 2020 Appellant :- Smt. Manju Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Appellant :- Ajay Kumar Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Himanshu Srivastava with Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 2149 of 2020 Appellant :- Smt. Rekha Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Appellant :- Ajay Kumar Mishra Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.,Himanshu Srivastava
Hon'ble Ajit Kumar,J.
Heard Sri Ajay Kumar Mishra, learned Counsel for the appellant-applicant, Sri Himanshu Srivastava, learned counsel for the complainant, learned AGA and perused the record.
Both the abovenoted appeals filed under Section 14 A(2) of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have arisen against the bail rejection orders dated 14.7.2020 passed by Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Meerut in Bail Application No. 1643 of 2020 rejecting the bail application of the appellants-applicants, Smt. Manju and Smt. Rekha in Case Crime No. 432 of 2020 under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 504, 506, 120-B IPC, Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act and Section 3(2) V SC/ST Act, P.S.- T.P. Nagar, District- Meerut, and accordingly are heard and disposed off by this common order.
Allegations in the first information report are that the incident took place at 11.45 PM when indiscriminate firing took place at the end of Rohit, Sagar, Ankit and two unknown persons involving the mother of Sagar, Smt. Rekha and one Smt. Manju (Sister of Smt. Rekha), who are the appellants before this Court.
It has been submitted by learned Counsel for the appellants- applicants that the appellants have been falsely implicated for ulterior motive. It is next submitted that the police has recorded the statement of the injured witness and in the initial part of the statement the role of indiscriminate firing is attributed to five persons, but in the later part of the statement he clarified the role of firing shot by specifically assigning it to Sagar, Rohit and Neeraj. The role assigned to present applicants is only of exhortation. It is next submitted that in view of the statement of the injured witness now the case of the present applicants are quite distinguishable as far as firing shot upon the injured and the victims are concerned. In so far as the role of conspiracy is concerned, it is argued that it will be seen at the stage of trial when the prosecution will lead evidence to that effect and it is too early to presume the conspiracy at this stage. It is also submitted that though the charge sheet has been submitted in the present case, but in the wake of heavy pendency of cases in the Court, there is no chance of any early conclusion of trial. The applicants are languishing in jail since 29.6.2020.
Though the appeals have been opposed vehemently by the counsel for the complainant as well as the learned A.G.A. on the ground that the FIR version has come to be corroborated by the statement of the injured witness recorded before the police that there was indiscriminate firing involving all the five persons and the manner in which the version of the FIR has been reiterated, the same could not be doubted. However, learned counsel could not dispute that in the later part of the statement of the injured witness it is clarified that the role of firing is assigned specifically to only three persons namely Sagar, Rohit and Neeraj.
I have considered the rival submissions so made and having gone through the entire record including the order by which, bail application of the appellants-applicants has been rejected, impugned herein and at the same time without entering into the merits of the case and keeping in view the evidence, complicity of accused, I am of the view that the appellants have made out a case for bail.
Accordingly, this appeal is allowed and the impugned order dated 14.7.2020 rejecting the bail of the appellants is set aside.
Let the above named accuseds-appellants involved in the aforesaid crime be released on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each of the like amount to the satisfaction of Court concerned subject to the condition that applicants shall cooperate in the trial and will not jump the bail.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official is further directed to verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.
Order Date :- 5.1.2021 Deepika