Court No. - 79
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 20165 of 2020 Applicant :- Sahab Singh Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- R.P.S. Chauhan,Gaurav Singh Chauhan Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Dharmendra Pratap Singh
Hon'ble Saurabh Shyam Shamshery,J.
Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned counsel for the complainant, learned A.G.A. and perused the record.
The applicant has approached this Court by way of filing the present Criminal Misc. Bail Application seeking enlargement on bail in Case Crime No. 09 of 2020 under Sections 498-A, 306 I.P.C. and 3/4 D.P. ct, police station Chharra, District Aligarh after rejection of his Bail Application, vide order dated 10.06.2020 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Court No. 3, Aligarh.
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the applicant is father-in-law of the deceased and the F.I.R. was got registered by one Vijendra Singh roping in the entire family of the applicant with the alleged allegation of dowry harassment. Fact remains that the marriage of the son of the applicant, namely, Vinod got solemnized with the deceased on 19.4.2007 and for the period of 13 good years she remained issueless and that after 13 years of marriage, there is a bleak possibility for demand of dowry or its related harassment. She remained issueless for 13 years which can be much more prominent reason for taking her life by hanging herself. Postmortem report of the deceased reveals that there is singular ligature mark having gap on back of the neck and the cause of death is shown to be asphyxia as a result of antemortem hanging. He further submits that the mother-in-law and husband of the deceased have already been enlarged on bail by Co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide orders dated 28.08.2020 and 04.02.2021 passed in Crl. Misc. Bail Application Nos. 21970 of 2020 and 48697 of 2020 respectively. It is lastly submitted that applicant is languishing in jail since 02.02.2020, there is no likelihood of early disposal of trial and the applicant undertakes that if he is enlarged on bail, he will never misuse his liberty, will not commit any offence during bail and will co-operate in the trial.
Learned counsel for the complainant and learned A.G.A. have vehemently opposed the bail, by drawing attention of the Court to the site plan and has argued that under circumstances as has been mentioned in the site plan it is not possible that the deceased would commit suicide.
(A) Law on bail is well settled that 'Bail is rule and Jail is exception'. Bail should not be granted or rejected in a mechanical manner as it concerns liberty of a person. At the time of considering an application for bail, the Court must take into account certain factors such as existence of a prima facie case against the accused, gravity of the allegations, severity of punishment, position and status of the accused, likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice and repeating the offence, reasonable apprehension of tampering with the witnesses and obstructing the Courts as well as criminal antecedents of the accused.
(B) It is also well settled that the Court while considering an application for bail must not go into deep merits of the matter such as question of credibility and reliability of prosecution witnesses which can only be tested during the trial. Even ground of parity is one of the above mentioned aspects which are essentially required to be considered.
(C) It is also well settled that the grant or refusal of bail is entirely within the discretion of the judge hearing the matter and though that discretion is unfettered, it must be exercised judiciously and in a humane manner, compassionately and not in whimsical manner. The Court should record the reasons which have weighed with the count for the exercise of its discretionary power for an order granting or rejecting bail. Conditions for the grant of bail ought not to be so strict as to be incapable of compliance, thereby making the grant of bail illusory.
(D) The Court while granting bail in the case involving sexual offence against a woman should not mandate such bail conditions, which is/are against the mandate of "fair justice" to victim such as to make any form of compromise or marriage with the accused etc. and shall take into consideration the directions passed by Supreme Court in Aparna Bhat and others vs. State of Madhya Pradesh and another, reported in 2021 SCC Online SC 230, in this regard.
7. Considering the rival submission, material available on record, the period of detention already undergone, the unlikelihood of early conclusion of trial, absence of any convincing material to indicate the possibility of tampering with the evidence, relevant factors mentioned above, particularly that as per the post mortem except ligature mark no other ante mortem injury was found on the person of the deceased. Taking note of the submission of learned Senior Counsel appearing for the applicant that the daughter-in-law of the applicant, who remained issueless, has committed suicide after 13 years of her marriage and there is no occasion for applicant to demand dowry. Mother-in-law and husband of the deceased have already been enlarged on bail by Co-ordinate Benches of this Court and also considering that there is no previous criminal history of the applicant and he is languishing in jail since 02.02.2020, this Court is of the view that a case of grant of bail is made out.
8. Let applicant - Sahab Singh be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of Court concerned with the following conditions which are being imposed in the interest of justice:-
i) The applicant will not tamper with prosecution evidence and will not harm or harass the complainant in any manner whatsoever.
ii) The applicant will abide the orders of Court, will attend the Court on every date and will not delay the disposal of trial in any manner whatsoever.
iii) The applicant shall file an undertaking to the effect that he shall not seek any adjournment on the date fixed for evidence when the witnesses are present in Court. In case of default of this condition, it shall be open for the trial Court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law.
iv) The applicant will not misuse the liberty of bail in any manner whatsoever. In case, the applicant misuses the liberty of bail during trial and in order to secure his presence proclamation under section 82 Cr.P.C., may be issued and if applicant fails to appear before the Court on the date fixed in such proclamation, then, the Trial Court shall initiate proceedings against him, in accordance with law, under Section 174-A I.P.C.
v) The applicant shall remain present, in person, before Trial Court on dates fixed for (1) opening of the case, (2) framing of charge and (3) recording of statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. If in the opinion of Trial Court absence of applicant is deliberate or without sufficient cause, then it shall be open for Trial Court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed against him in accordance with law and Trial Court may proceed against him under Section 229-A IPC.
9. The identity, status and residential proof of sureties will be verified by Court concerned and in case of breach of any of the conditions mentioned above, Court concerned will be at liberty to cancel the bail and send the applicant to prison.
10. The bail application is allowed.
11. It is made clear that the observations made hereinabove are only for the purpose of adjudicating the present bail application.
12. The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad.
13. The computer generated copy of such order shall be self attested by the counsel of the party concerned.
14. It is expected from the trial court that trial of this case will be concluded expeditiously and while granting any adjournment, trial court will take note of the provisions of Section 309 Cr.P.C.
15. 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 :- 27.7.2021 Shiraz