Sangam Lal and 2 Others Vs State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. and 3 Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Sangam Lal and 2 Others Vs State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. and 3 Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Application not pressed on merits; applicants permitted to surrender before the court below and apply for bail. Direction to court below: if applicants appear within 30 days and apply for bail, the bail prayer shall be considered and decided expeditiously in accordance with law. Applicants not to be arrested for 30 days from today or till they apply for bail, whichever is earlier.

Issue for consideration

Whether the proceedings in Criminal Case No. 2500/2020 (State Vs. Pramod Kumar & Ors.), founded on the charge sheet dated 01.09.2018 in F.I.R. No. 186/2018, should be quashed against the applicants. +1 more

Court's answer

Application disposed of with a direction to the court below that if the applicants appear before the court below within 30 days and apply for bail, their prayer for bail shall be considered and decided expeditiously in accordance with law.

Ratio / Principle

Having gone through the record, it cannot be said that no offence is made out against the applicants.

Key takeaways

Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, the prayer for quashing the charge sheet is hereby refused.ratio¶13
Interim protection from arrest: for a period of 30 days from today or till the applicants apply for bail, whichever is earlier, the applicants shall not be arrested in the aforesaid case.ratio¶19
Since the Apex Court in Satender Kumar Antil has already laid down guidelines for grant of bail without fettering the discretion of courts concerned, no specific directions need be issued by this Court; the court concerned is expected to take those guidelines into consideration.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

APPLICATION U/S 482 No. 1646 of 2025 (Allahabad HC, Lucknow Bench, Court No. 13; Rajeev Singh, J.; neutral citation 2025:AHC-LKO:11758; order dt. 25.2.2025). Sangam Lal & 2 Ors. sought quashing of proceedings in Criminal Case No. 2500/2020 (State Vs. Pramod Kumar & Ors.) pursuant to charge sheet dt. 01.09.2018 in F.I.R. No. 186/2018 under Sections 493, 506 I.P.C. and Section 3/4 D.P. Act, PS Lalganj, District Pratapgarh. Counsel did not press the prayer on merits and sought only liberty to surrender and apply for bail with expeditious disposal. Testing only the prima facie position in light of R.P. Kapur (AIR 1960 SC 866), Bhajan Lal (1992 SCC (Cr.) 426), P.P. Sharma (1992 SCC (Cr.) 192), Zandu Pharmaceutical (2005 SCC (Cr.) 283) and Parabatbhai Ahir (AIR 2017 SC 4843), the Court held it cannot be said that no offence is made out, and refused the quashing prayer. Application disposed of: if applicants appear before the court below within 30 days and apply for bail, the prayer shall be considered and decided expeditiously in accordance with law; for 30 days or till the bail application, whichever is earlier, the applicants shall not be arrested. Expedited-bail framework drawn from Amrawati (2004 (57) ALR 290, seven judges Bench of this Court), Lal Kamlendra Pratap Singh (2009 (3) ADJ 322 (SC)), Hussain (MANU/SC/0274/2017), Suo Motu Writ (CRL) No. (S) 1 of 2017 (judgment dt. 20.04.2021 approving Draft Rules of Criminal Practice 2021, Ch. V Rule 17: bail in non-bailable cases ordinarily disposed within 3-7 days), and guidelines in Satender Kumar Antil (Sp. Leave (Crl.) 5191/2021), in the backdrop of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC-LKO:11758

Court No. - 13

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 1646 of 2025

Applicant :- Sangam Lal And 2 Others Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Manish Vaish Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

Hon'ble Rajeev Singh,J.

Heard learned counsel for the applicants and the learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.

The present application has been filed with a prayer to quash the proceedings in the Criminal Case No.2500/2020 "State Vs. Pramod Kumar & Ors." in pursuant to the charge sheet dated 01.09.2018 filed in the F.I.R. No.186/2018 lodged under Sections 493, 506 I.P.C., and Section 3/4 D.P. Act, Police Station Lalganj, District Pratapgarh.

After arguing the matter at some length, learned counsel for the applicants submits that he does not want to press this application on merit and he confines his prayer only to the extent that applicants may be permitted to surrender and move bail application before the court concerned and suitable directions may be issued that the same may be heard and decided expeditiously, in accordance with law.

Learned A.G.A. has no objection in grant of the aforesaid prayer.

Considering the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties and going through the record, it cannot be said that no offence is made out against applicants.

At this stage, only prima facie case is to be seen in the light of the law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the cases of R.P. Kapur Vs. State of Punjab, A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 866, State of Haryana Vs. Bhajan Lal, 1992 SCC

(Cr.) 426, State of Bihar Vs. P. P. Sharma, 1992 SCC (Cr.) 192 and lastly Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Vs. Mohd. Saraful Haq & Another (Para-10) 2005 SCC (Cr.) 283 and Parabatbhai Ahir & Ors. Vs. State of Gujarat AIR 2017 SC 4843 .

Therefore, keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, the prayer for quashing the charge sheet is hereby refused.

A seven judges Bench of this Court in the cases of Amrawati and another Vs. State of U.P. reported in 2004 (57) ALR 290 and Hon'ble Apex Court in Lal Kamlendra Pratap Singh Vs. State of U.P. reported in 2009 (3) ADJ 322 (SC) and in Hussain and Ors. Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. reported in MANU/SC/0274/2017 have given various directions to criminal Courts for expeditious disposal of Bail applications. The ratio of above mentioned decisions is quite clear that, in the backdrop of Article 21 of the Constitution of India as the personal liberty of a person is at stake, the bail application should be decided, expeditiously.

In the recent judgment, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in SUO MOTU WRIT (CRL) No. (S) 1 of 2017 In RE: To issue certain guidelines regarding inadequacies and deficiencies in criminal trials vs. The State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors. vide its judgment and order dated 20.04.2021 has observed the common deficiencies which occurred in the proceedings of the criminal cases and approved "The Draft Rules of Criminal Practice 2021" which is the part of the judgment in Chapter V Rule 17 of aforesaid Rules that the application for bail in non-bailable cases must ordinarily be disposed off within a period of 3 to 7 days from the date of first hearing. If the application is not disposed off within such period, the Presiding Officer shall furnish reasons thereof in the order itself.

Further, as the Apex Court in Satender Kumar Antil Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and another (Special

Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 5191 of 2021) has already laid down guidelines for grant of bail, without fettering the discretion of the courts concerned and the statutory provisions governing consideration in grant of bail, no specific directions need be issued by this Court as it is expected that the court concerned will take into consideration the necessary guidelines already issued by the Apex Court.

In backdrop of aforesaid decisions and keeping in view the entirety of facts and circumstances of the case and having regard to the submissions of learned counsel for the applicants, the application is disposed of with a direction to the court below that if the applicants appear before the court below within 30 days from today and apply for bail, their prayer for bail shall be considered and decided expeditiously in accordance with law.

For a period of 30 days from today or till the applicants apply for bail, whichever is earlier, the applicants shall not be arrested in the aforesaid case.

Order Date :- 25.2.2025 Gaurav/-

Digitally signed by :- GAURAV PAL High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench