Court No. - 69
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 51941 of 2021 Applicant :- Sanjay Singh Opposite Party :- State Of U.P Through Principal Secretary Home Up At Lucknow Counsel for Applicant :- Rahul Kumar Jadaun,Chandra Bhushan Yadav,Imran Ullah Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Ashok Kumar Nigam
Hon'ble Ajit Singh,J.
Heard Sri Imran Ullah, learned counsel for the applicant, Shri Sri Narayan Mishra, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
By means of this application, the applicant who is involved in Case Crime No. 122 of 2021, under Sections 304 and 506 I.P.C., P.S. Sirsakalar, district-Jalaun, is seeking enlargement on bail during the trial.
The first information report was lodged by the informant against the present accused Sanjay Singh and other co-accused Jaswant Singh, alleging therein that on 15.10.2021 at about 8:00 O'clock in the night Dushara milan samharo was organized in the village, in which the present accused along with his father visited there. The present accused armed with gun was also present there and he fired at the father of the complainant, resulting in his death at the spot. It was also alleged that prior to this incident the accused persons had given threats to the deceased. The accused are audacious persons and nobody is daring to come forward against them.
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that it is evident from the first information report that festival of Dusshara was being celebrated in the village, where the incident had taken place. He next submits that initially the matter was registered under Section 302 I.P.C. but later on after investigation it was converted into Section 304 I.P.C. Further submission is that due to negligence of the applicant this incident occurred, which is evident from the police conclusion, which is annexed at page no. 55 of the paper book. After completion of investigation, the Investigating Officer has converted the case registered under Section 302 I.P.C. to Section 304 I.P.C. There is no evidence regarding previous enmity between the applicant and the deceased and the applicant was not having any ill-will or mens rea against the deceased as is evident from the police investigation that on the date of incident the festival of Dusshara was being organized and the present accused was garlanding the photo of Lord Rama and the gun, which was allegedly used in the incident was kept for 'Shasta Pooja'. At the saying of the villagers the attempt was made to fire from double barrel gun but the same was missed and when the double barrel gun was being kept, then it accidentally charged and the father of the complainant received injuries in the unfortunate incident. He also submits that the injured was taken to the hospital by the applicant in his Scorpio car, which is evident from the statement of witness Umakant Srivastava, brother of the deceased, which is annexed at page no. 40 of the paper book. He also submits that if the applicant was having any enmity with the deceased, then he would not have taken the injured to the hospital for treatment in his own car. The applicant had not intended to inflict the injury on the person of the injured and offence, if any, committed by the applicant, then it goes up to only Section 304A and not beyond that and a death caused by negligence is punishable only by two years' punishment with fine or with both. He lastly submits that the applicant, who is in jail since 17.10.2021 and has no criminal antecedents to his credit is entitled to be enlarged on bail during pendency of the trial.
The prayer for bail has been vehemently opposed by learned A.G.A.
Keeping in view the nature of the offence, evidence, complicity of the accused, severity of the punishment, submissions of learned counsel for the parties, considering the nature of incident and evidence available on record, considering that initially the FIR was lodged under Section 302 I.P.C. but later on it was converted to Section 304 I.P.C. and the Investigating Officer has informed that the incident had taken place accidentally and there was no ill-will on the part of the present accused and there was no mens rea on the part of the applicant, considering the facts and circumstances of the case and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this Court is of the view that the applicant is entitled to be enlarged on bail during the pendency of the trial.
Let the applicant, Sanjay Singh be released on bail in the aforesaid case on his executing a personal bond and furnishing two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to the following conditions:-
(a) The applicant shall attend the court according to the conditions of the bond executed by him.
(b) The applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.
It is further directed that the identity, status and residence proof of the sureties be verified by the authorities concerned before they are accepted.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the trial court will be at liberty to cancel the bail.
Order Date :- 23.12.2021 Faridul Digitally signed by Justice Ajit Singh Date: 2021.12.25 16:13:48 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad