Court No. - 71
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 32651 of 2021 Applicant :- Pankaj Prakash Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Anant Ram Dube Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Vivek Kumar Singh,J.
Supplementary Affidavit filed by learned counsel for the applicant is taken on record.
Heard Sri Anant Ram Dube, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Sanjay Singh, learned AGA -I, appearing for the State and perused the material brought on record.
It is contended that applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case due to ulterior motive. The applicant is not named in the First Information Report. His name surfaced in the present case in the statement of the co-accused. The applicant has no knowledge of the business and commercial activities of the Company. Applicant was not part of the business hence was not beneficiary of any incentive or profit out of the business he was simply employee of the Company and was receiving salary for his job worked only for five months. It is next contended that applicant's case is at par with co-accused namely Sumita Negi @ Jainiya Negi, who has been granted bail by co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 3.8.2021, passed in Crl. Misc. Bail Application No. 27282 of 2021,(copy of the said order has been produced before the Court which is taken on record), the case of the applicant stands on identical footing, hence the applicant is also entitled for bail on the ground of parity. Previous criminal history of the applicant has been properly explained in the Supplementary Affidavit filed in this case. The applicant is in jail since 14.03.2021.
Learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the prayer without disputing the fact that co-accused person has been granted bail.
Courts have taken notice of overcrowding of jails during the current pandemic situation (Ref: Sue, 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.
Having heard the submissions of learned counsel of both sides, nature of accusation and the severity of punishment in case of conviction and the nature of supporting evidence, prima facie satisfaction of the Court in support of the charge, reformative theory of punishment, and larger mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the dictum of Apex Court in the case of Dataram Singh v. State of U.P. and another, reported in (2018) 2 SCC 22 and without expressing any opinion on the merit of the case, I find it to be a case of bail.
Let applicant- Pankaj Prakash, be released on bail in Case Crime No. 24 of 2021, under Sections- 406, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B and 34 IPC, Police Station- Sector 58 Noida, District- Gautam Budh Nagar, on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of magistrate/court concerned, subject to following conditions:-
1. The applicant will attend and co-operate the trial proceedings pending before the court concerned on the date fixed after release.
2. He will not tamper with the witnesses.
3. He will not indulge in any illegal activities during the bail period.
The identity, status and residential proof of sureties will be verified by the court concerned and in case of breach of any of the above conditions, the court below shall be at liberty to cancel the bail and send the applicant to prison.
It is clarified that the observations, if any, made in this order are strictly confined to the disposal of this bail application and must not be construed to have any reflection on the ultimate merits of the case.
The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad.
The computer generated copy of such order shall be self attested by the counsel of the party concerned.
The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall 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 :- 30.9.2021 ssm