Court No. - 79
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 27941 of 2021 Applicant :- Saroja Opposite Party :- State of U.P.
Counsel for Applicant :- Raghvendra Prakash
Hon'ble Saurabh Shyam Shamshery,J.
1. Heard Shri Shubham Dwivedi, Advocate holding brief of Shri Raghvendra Prakash, learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A. and perused the record.
2. The applicant has approached this Court by way of filing the present Criminal Misc. Bail Application seeking enlargement on bail in Case Crime No.0086 of 2020, under Sections 147, 149, 304 IPC, Police Station - Pawai, District – Azamgarh.
3. Learned counsel for the applicant has vehemently argued in favour of the bail application on behalf of applicant, who is a 19 years old, unmarried girl. It is submitted that out of five named accused, who are family members, two accused namely Gobari and Sunil have been granted bail whereas two co-accused namely Angad and Ankit have been declared juvenile. The deceased died due to single blow on his head. There is no specific allegation against the applicant. Applicant is impleaded as an accused only being a family member. There is no evidence of any unlawful assembly having common object to cause death of the deceased. It is further submitted that applicant, having no criminal history, is languishing in jail since 23.3.2021, even there is no recovery either from the possession or pointing out of the applicant. It is lastly submitted that there is no likelihood of early disposal of trial and the applicant undertakes that if she is enlarged on bail, she will never misuse her liberty, will not commit any offence during bail and will co- operate in the trial.
4. Learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the prayer of bail and submitted that due to prior rivalry, applicant and other co- accused have formed unlawful assembly with common object to cause death. However, it is not disputed that deceased has died only due to single solitary injury and that two co-accused have been granted bail.
5. (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.
6. 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 applicant is a girl, aged about 19 years old; that prima facie, there is no allegation of any overact on her part. There is no recovery of any incriminating material either from the possession or pointing out of applicant. Similarly situated co- accused have been granted bail and also considering that it may be a case of an over implication and there is no previous criminal history of applicant and she is languishing in jail since 23.3.2021, this Court is of the view that a case of grant of bail is made out.
7. Let applicant - Saroja 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 her 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 her, 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 her in accordance with law and Trial Court may proceed against her under Section 229-A IPC.
8. 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.
9. The bail application is allowed.
10. It is made clear that the observations made hereinabove are only for the purpose of adjudicating the present bail application.
11. The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad.
12. The computer generated copy of such order shall be self attested by the counsel of the party concerned.
13. 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.
14. 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 :- 29.7.2021 Rishabh Digitally signed by SAURABH SHYAM SHAMSHERY Date: 2021.08.02 11:08:22 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad