Single Bench of Allahabad High Court allowed bail to the applicant in a case under Section 306 IPC, holding that a prima facie case and reasonable apprehension of witness tampering justify bail without expressing an opinion on merits.
Release of the applicant on bail on furnishing a personal bond and two sureties subject to specific conditions.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Court No. - 80
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 1383 of 2023
Applicant :- Neeraj Nishad Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Vidya Kant Tripathi Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Nilesh Kesharwani,Shyam Kishore Tripathi
Hon'ble Umesh Chandra Sharma,J.
Heard Shri Vidya Kant Tripathi, learned counsel for the applicant, Shri Shyam Kishore Tripathi, learned counsel for the informant as well as Shri Anand Sagar, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
The instant application for bail has been moved on behalf of the applicant- Neeraj Nishad with the prayer to enlarge him on bail in Case Crime No. 107 of 2022 under Sections 306 I.P.C., Police Station- George Town, District- Prayagraj, during pendency of the trial.
Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that the applicant is innocent and has falsely been implicated in this case. The ingredients of Section 306 I.P.C. are not available as there is no allegation against the applicant of instigating, engaging person or persons in conspiracy, intentionally providing aid to the deceased or illegal omission to commit suicide. Even for the sake of argument, the version of the prosecution is accepted, since the wife of the deceased was adult, therefore, the offence does not traverse beyond Section 497 I.P.C. which has been declared unconstitutional by the Apex Court. Co-accused Smt. Shalini Nishad has been granted bail by co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 16.8.2022 passed in Crl. Misc. Bail Application No. 23917 of 2022. It has been submitted that the accused/applicant has no previous criminal history and is languishing in jail since 02.12.2022.
Lastly, it has been submitted that in case, the applicant is enlarged on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail and he will also fully cooperate with the trial court in getting the trial concluded expeditiously. He has also submitted that the applicant will not intimidate or pressurize the witnesses or any other persons acquainted with the facts of the present case.
Per contra, learned A.G.A. for the State has vehemently opposed the prayer for grant of bail.
Considering the rival submissions and the nature of accusation and the severity of punishment in case of conviction and the nature of supporting evidence, reasonable apprehension of tampering with the witness and prima facie case, without expressing any opinion on merit of the case, a case for bail is made out. The bail application is, thus, allowed.
Let the applicant- Neeraj Nishad be released on bail in the aforesaid case on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions:-
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail.
It is made clear that the trial of the aforesaid case shall be
conducted without being influenced by any observation made herein above which are confined to the disposal of the instant application for bail.
Order Date :- 23.3.2023 S.Verma
Digitally signed by :- SANDEEP KUMAR VERMA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
2 issues framed by the court
Whether bail should be granted to the applicant in the pending criminal trial under Section 306 IPC.
Whether reasonable apprehension of tampering with witnesses justifies granting bail without merits.
Neeraj Nishad
State of U.P.
Umesh Chandra Sharma
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
