Court No. - 72
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 22791 of 2021 Applicant :- Rajesh Harijan Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Kripa Kant Pandey 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 second bail application, applicant-Rajesh Harijan, who is involved in Case Crime No. 346 of 2016, under section 304 IPC, police station Chopan, district Sonbhadra, seeks enlargement on bail during the pendency of trial.
The first bail application No. 45000 of 2017 was rejected by co- ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 13.08.2019 for want of prosecution.
It has been contended on behalf of the applicant that the trial is proceeding and four prosecution witnesses, namely, Raj Kumar, the father of the deceased (PW-1,), Constable Alok Pandey (PW-2), Shravan Kumar, brother of the deceased (PW-3) and Tejbali, father-in-law of the deceased (PW-4) have been examined before the trial court. It is next submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that there are material contradictions in the statement of Raj Kumar PW-1, whereas PW-3-Shravan Kumar, and PW-4 Tajbali, have been declared hostile by the trial court. Learned counsel for the applicant also submitted that the applicant has no criminal history and is in jail since 09.11.2016, therefore considering the detention period of the applicant in jail, he should be granted bail.
Per contra, learned Additional Government Advocate vehemently opposed the prayer for bail by contending that it is murder case. In the post mortem report, injuries have been found on the body of the deceased. The cause of death of the deceased is due to ante-mortem injuries. The offence is heinous in nature. The trial is pending, 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, the trial is proceedings and four prosecution witnesses have already been examined, I do not find any good ground to grant bail to the applicant at this stage.
Accordingly, the second 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 one year 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 :- 13.8.2021 Sazia Digitally signed by Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh Date: 2021.08.13 18:12:22 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad