IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 28TH DAY OF MARCH, 2019 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE B.A. PATIL CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1453 OF 2019 BETWEEN:
1. Mr.Ramachandraiah S/o. late Gangaiah Aged about 60 years 2. Mr.Baire Gowda S/o. Ramachandraiah Aged about 35 years 3. Mr.Dhananjaya S/o. Ramachandraiah Aged about 30 years The petitioner Nos.1 to 3 are R/at Thadakavagilu Village, Kootagal Hobli, Ramanagar Taluk & District – 562 128 4. Mr.Chandrashekar S/o.Ramachandraiah Aged about 40 years, R/at No.19, Balajinagar, Thigalarapalya Main Road, Bengaluru North Bengaluru – 560038 5. Mr.Girish S/o.Jayakumar, Aged about 27 years, R/at Bilagumba Village, Kasaba Hobli, Ramanagar Taluk & district - 562728 (Note: Petition against petitioner Nos.2 and 5 are dismissed vide order dated 28.03.2019) (By Sri.R.Srinivasagowda, Advocate) AND:
State of Karnataka by Ramanagar Rural Police Station, Represented through the Special Public Prosecutor, High Court Building, Bengaluru – 560 001 (By Smt.Namitha Mahesh.B.G, HCGP) ...Petitioners ...Respondent This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 438 of Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioners on bail in the event of their arrest in Crime No.12/2019 of Ramanagara Rural Police Station, Ramanagara for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 307 read with Section 149 of IPC.
This Criminal Petition coming on for Orders, this day, the Court made the following:
O R D E R Learned counsel for the petitioners files a memo to withdraw the petition as against the petitioners-accused Nos.2 and 5 as they have been apprehended by the police.
2. The said memo is placed on record and petition as against petitioners-accused Nos.2 and 5 is dismissed.
3. The present petition has been filed by the petitioners/accused Nos.1,4 and 3 under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. praying this Court to release them on anticipatory bail in the event of their arrest in Crime No.12/2019 of Ramanagara Rural Police Station, Ramanagara for the offence punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 307 read with Section 149 of IPC.
4. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned High Court Government Pleader for respondent-State.
5. The gist of the complaint is that on 26.01.2019 at 7.30 am when the wife of the complainant Smt.Kamalamma was cleaning the land measuring 8 guntas out of 01 acre 08 guntas in Sy. No.34 of Thodikavagilu Village, at that time the accused persons with an intention to kill her came by holding lethal weapons and Baire Gowda-accused No.2 assaulted on the left ear with a machu and as a result of the same her left ear was cut and she sustained grievous injuries on her ear and on her jaw. Girish-accused No.5 assaulted on her head by machu and she fell down and thereafter accused Nos.1,4 and 3 ran towards the complainant by saying that she is dead. The villagers carried the wife of the complainant to the Government hospital and thereafter she was shifted to NIMHANS hospital, Bengaluru. On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered.
6. It is the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioners that there are no serious overt acts alleged as against petitioner-accused Nos.1,4 and 3. It is only accused Nos.2 and 5 who have assaulted the injured with lethal weapons. He further submitted that the accused Nos.1,4 and 3 were only standing near the incident which took place, serious overt acts has been alleged as against them. He further submitted that the injured has been discharged from the hospital and she is out of danger. He further submits that there is three days delay in filing the complaint and the alleged offences are not punishable with death or imprisonment for life. They are ready to abide by the terms and conditions imposed by this Court and ready to offer sureties. On these grounds, he prays to allow the petition and release the petitioners-accused Nos.1,4 and 3 on bail.
7. Per contra, learned High Court Government Pleader vehemently argued and submitted that the petitioners-accused along with accused Nos.2 and 5 have assaulted the wife of the complainant with lethal weapons, she is still under the treatment, the injuries suffered are grievous in nature. She further submitted that the petitioners-accused Nos.1,4 and 3 were absconding and they were not available for investigation or interrogation, if they are enlarged on bail they may not be available for trial. On these grounds he prays to dismiss the petition.
8. I have carefully and cautiously gone through the contents of the complaint and other materials which has been produced and the submissions made by the learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the records.
9. As could be seen from the contents of the complaint and other materials it clearly goes to show that it is accused No.2-Baire Gowda assaulted with machu on the left ear and the jaw portion of the injured and accused No.5- Girish also assaulted with machu on the head and other parts of the body. At that time the petitioners-accused Nos.1,4 and 3 were standing nearby the place of incident which took place and later they ran away, except that no other allegations are against the petitioners-accused Nos.1, 4 and 3.
10. Under the said facts and circumstances, I feel that if by imposing some stringent conditions, the petitioners- accused Nos.1,4 and 3 are ordered to be released on anticipatory bail, it is going to meet the ends of justice.
11. In the light of the discussion held by me above, petition is allowed and the petitioners-accused Nos.1, 4 and 3 are enlarged on anticipatory bail in the event of their arrest in Crime No.12/2019 of Ramanagara Rural Police Station, Ramanagara for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 307 read with Section 149 of IPC subject to the following conditions:
1. Each of the petitioners/accused Nos.1,4 and 3 shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.2,00,000/-(Rupees Two Lakhs Only) with two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the Investigating Officer.
2. They shall surrender before the Investigation Agency within 15 days from today.
3. They shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence either directly or indirectly.
4. They shall not leave the jurisdiction of the Court without prior permission.
5. They shall mark their attendance once in 15 days between 10.00 a.m., and 5.00 p.m., before the jurisdictional police station, till the charge sheet is filed.
6. They must be available for investigation or interrogation.
Sd/- JUDGE KPS