Court No. - 72
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 54645 of 2019 Applicant :- Mo. Hasan Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Syed Wajid Ali,Shailesh Kumar Tiwari Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Singh,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant and learned Additional Government Advocate for the State and perused the material placed on record.
By means of this application, applicant-Mo. Hasan, who is involved in Case Crime No. 308 of 2018, under section 304 IPC, police station Gorakhnath, district Gorakhpur, seeks enlargement on bail during the pendency of trial.
The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 28.06.2018 the informant Jalaluddin moved a written application to the In-charge Inspector, police station Gorakhnath, Gorakhpur mentioning inter alia therein that out of love affair his daughter Rukhsar aged about 20 years solemnized marriage with Hasan, son of Rizwanullah about nine months ago, but when he came to know about the same, he solemnized her Nikah with Hasan on 05.10.2017. It is also mentioned in the application that on 20.06.2018 at about 10.00 p.m., Hasan and his family members poured kerosene upon Rukhsar and set her ablaze. On the information received by informant that his daughter is burnt and hospitalized for her treatment in Medical College, Gorakhpur, the informant and his family members reached at Medical College where during treatment, her daughter told them that Nagma (mother-in-law), Rizwanullah (father-in-law), Hasan (husband), Fatima (sister-in-law) and Sakeena (sister-in-law) used to beat her daily for cooking food and other house-hold work. The deceased also alleged that on 20.06.2018 after assaulting her, sprinkled kerosene upon her and set her ablaze, thereafter, she succumbed to the burn injuries in the night of 21.06.2018. After burial of his daughter and normalization of his mental condition, the informant given the aforesaid written information to the police station. Thereafter, on the aforesaid written information of the informant, present first information report has been lodged on 28.06.2018 against all the aforesaid accused persons at case crime No. 308 of 2018 for the offence under section 304 IPC, at police station Gorakhnath district Gorakhpur.
It has been contended on behalf of the applicant that the applicant is husband of the deceased Rukhsar. Learned counsel for the applicant also submitted that the deceased received burn injuries by accidental fire while cooking food in the house. It is admitted case of the prosecution that there was love marriage between the applicant and the deceased, therefore there was no motive for the applicant to commit the murder of his own wife as alleged in the first information report. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that the deceased was taken to the Medical College, Gorakhpur for her treatment by the applicant. It is next submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that the informant- Jalaluddin, who is the father of the deceased, has been examined as P.W.-1 before the trial court, but he did not support the prosecution version, hence the informant has been declared as hostile by the trial court, copy of statement of Jalaluddin has been brought on record as annexure No. SA-1 to the supplementary affidavit. Hence, the applicant is entitled to bail.
Learned Additional Government Advocate has vehemently opposed the prayer for bail and has submitted that the deceased died within a short span of time of nine months of her marriage. As per post-mortem report of the deceased, the cause of death is ante-mortem burn injuries, which is an unnatural death. The whole body of the deceased was found deep burn except back side of the head and lower limb. It is also submitted by learned Additional Government Advocate that the plea of the applicant that the deceased received burn injuries while cooking food, is against the evidence on record. He has further submitted that mere fact that informant Jalaluddin has turned hostile, could not entitle the accused-applicant to be released on bail, the applicant being the husband of the deceased is responsible for the life and liberty of his wife, who himself set the deceased ablaze. Hence, the applicant is not entitled to be released on bail.
Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions advanced on behalf of parties, gravity of the offence and severity of the punishment, I find that the deceased died due to ante-mortem burn injuries within nine months of her marriage, which is an unnatural death and the applicant, who is husband of the deceased, is responsible for the life and liberty of his wife. I do not find any good ground to grant bail to the applicant.
Accordingly, the bail application is rejected.
However, considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the trial court is directed to make an endeavour to conclude the trial, expeditiously, preferably within a period of nine months from the date of production of a certified copy of this order without granting any unnecessary adjournment to either of the parties.
It is directed that in case certified copy of this order is not issued due to COVID-19 pandemic, the copy of the order downloaded from the official website of the Allahabad High Court shall be acted upon.
Order Date :- 27.7.2021 Sazia