High Court allowed bail to applicants charged with assault and attempted murder, releasing them on personal bonds citing prolonged trial duration and lack of early disposal prospects without expressing an opinion on merits.
Release on bail with a personal bond of Rs. One lac with two sureties.
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Court No. - 34
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 23225 of 2020
Applicant :- Minhaaj And And Another Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Atharva Dixit,Manish Tiwary(Senior Adv.),Sami Ullah Khan Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Mohammad Yunus Khan
Hon'ble Suneet Kumar,J.
Heard Shri Manish Tiwary, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Shri Sami Ullah Khan, learned counsel for the applicant, Mohd. Yunus Khan, learned counsel for the informant and learned A.G.A. appearing for the State and perused the record.
As per prosecution case, eight named and several unnamed persons are said to have caused assault with lathi, danda and hammer upon the injured; injury report shows solitary head injury with fracture; the C.C.T.V. footage/photographs shows six persons with lathi, danda and hammer; upon recovery the injured nominated eleven persons including five new persons. It is informed that five co-accused have been enlarged on bail by the court below; during investigation co-accused Faizan and Mustak named by the injured have been exonerated. It is urged that the author of the solitary injury is not identified at this stage; criminal antecedents of applicant no. 1 are duly explained and applicant no. 2 has no previous criminal antecedents. It is submitted that applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the instant case, hence, the applicants are entitled for bail; applicants are languishing in jail since 29.5.2020, there is no likelihood of early disposal of trial and the applicant undertakes that if enlarged on bail, he will never misuse his liberty and will co-operate in the trial.
Learned A.G.A. opposed the prayer for bail but could not dispute the aforesaid facts as argued by the learned counsel for the applicant.
Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case and considering the nature of accusation and the severity of punishment in case of conviction and the nature of supporting evidence, reasonable apprehension of tampering of the witnesses and prima facie satisfaction of the Court in support of the charge, the applicants are entitled to be released on bail in this case.
Let the applicants- Minhaaj and Shahbaaj in Case Crime No. 145 of 2020 under Sections 147, 323, 307 I.P.C., Police Station Dudhara, District Sant Kabir Nagar be released on bail on their furnishing a personal bond of Rs. One lac with two sureties (one should be of their family members) each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions:-
(i) The applicants shall file an undertaking to the effect that they shall not seek any adjournment on the dates 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.
(ii) The applicants shall remain present before the trial court on each date fixed, either personally or through their counsel. In case of their absence, without sufficient cause, the trial court may proceed against them under Section 229-A of the Indian Penal Code.
(iii) In case, the applicants misuse the liberty of bail during trial and in order to secure their presence proclamation under Section 82 Cr.P.C. is issued and the applicants fail to appear before the court on the date fixed in such proclamation, then, the trial court shall initiate proceedings against them, in accordance with law, under Section 174-A of the Indian Penal Code.
(iv) The applicants shall remain present, in person, before the trial court on the dates fixed for (i) opening of the case, (ii) framing of charge and (iii) recording of statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. If in the opinion of the trial court absence of the applicant is deliberate or without sufficient cause, then it shall be open for the trial court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed against them, in accordance with law.
(v) The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad.
(vi) The computer generated copy of such order shall be self attested by the counsel of the party concerned.
(vii) 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.
In view of the extraordinary situation prevailing in the State due to Covid19, the directions of this Court dated 6.4.2020 passed in Public Interest Litigation No. 564 of 2020 (In re vs. State of U.P.), shall also be complied.
The order reads thus:
"Looking to impediments in arranging sureties because of lockdown, while invoking powers under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, we deem it appropriate to order that all the accused-applicants whose bail applications came to be allowed on or after 15th March, 2020 but have not been released due to non-availability of sureties as a consequence to lockdown may be released on executing personal bond as ordered by the Court or to the satisfaction of the jail authorities where such accused is imprisoned, provided the accused-applicants undertakes to furnish required sureties within a period of one month from the date of his/her actual release."
Order Date :- 14.10.2020 S.Prakash
Digitally signed by Justice Suneet Kumar Date: 2020.10.15 17:48:54 IST Reason: Document Owner Location: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
1 issue framed by the court
Whether applicant is entitled to bail trial is lengthy with no prospect of early disposal.
3 provisions across 2 enactments
Minhaaj
Shahbaaj
Suneet Kumar
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
