Smt Sunita and 2 Others vs State of Upand Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Smt Sunita and 2 Others vs State of Upand Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Quashing prayer refused; application permitted to be withdrawn and stands disposed of with liberty to file a regular bail application before the court of competent jurisdiction, to be decided per the Supreme Court's category A observations in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, (2022) 10 SCC 51.

Issue for consideration

Whether the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 73. of 2022 (State Vs. Neeraj and others), arising out of Case Crime No. 475 of 2021 (Sections 147, 148, 323, 452 I.P.C., P.S. Jahangirabad, District Bulandshahr), together with the cognizance/summoning order dated 14.1.2022 pending before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 1, Bulandshahr, should be quashed under Section 482 CrPC.

Court's answer

After considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the applicants' prayer to quash the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 73. of 2022 and the cognizance/summoning order dated 14.1.2022 is refused.

Ratio / Principle

The application is disposed of, with liberty granted to the applicants to file a regular bail application before the court of competent jurisdiction.

Key takeaways

If the applicants file a bail application, it shall be decided in the light of the Supreme Court's observations in Satender Kumar Antil Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation & Another, (2022) 10 SCC 51, i.e., for category A accused against whom a charge-sheet has been submitted on appearance, the bail application may be decided without the accused being taken in physical custody or by granting interim bail till the bail application is decided, with a better exercise of discretion in favour of the accused.obiter¶11

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Allahabad High Court (Sanjay Kumar Pachori, J.) — Section 482 CrPC application (Appln. U/S 482 No. 32480 of 2024) by Smt Sunita and 2 others to quash the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 73. of 2022 (State Vs. Neeraj and others) arising out of Case Crime No. 475 of 2021 under Sections 147, 148, 323, 452 of I.P.C., P.S. Jahangirabad, District Bulandshahr, together with the cognizance/summoning order dated 14.1.2022 pending before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 1, Bulandshahr — prayer REFUSED. Counsel submitted the applicants were never arrested during investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against them, and the offence is punishable with up to 7 years' imprisonment. After arguments, counsel withdrew the application with liberty to seek regular bail; application disposed of (Order Date 18.2.2025). Any bail application is to be decided in light of the Supreme Court's judgments in Satender Kumar Antil Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation & Another, (2022) 10 SCC 51 — for category A accused (charge-sheet submitted on appearance) bail may be decided without taking the accused in physical custody or by granting interim bail till the bail application is decided, with a better exercise of discretion in favour of the accused.

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:22865

Court No. - 75

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 32480 of 2024

Applicant :- Smt Sunita And 2 Others Opposite Party :- State Of Upand Another Counsel for Applicant :- Pushpendra Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.

Sri Pushpendra Singh Lodhi, learned counsel for the applicants, Shri Karunakar Singh, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material on record.

The present application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 has been filed to quash the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 73. of 2022 (State Vs. Neeraj and others) arising out of Case Crime No. 475 of 2021, under Sections 147, 148, 323, 452 of I.P.C., Police Station- Jahangirabad, DistrictBulandshahr, as well as cognizance/summoning order 14.1.2022, pending in the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Court No. 1, Bulandshahr.

Learned counsel for the applicants submits that applicants were not arrested during the course of investigation and the charge-sheet have been submitted against them. It is further submitted that the offence is punishable up to 7 years imprisonment.

Upon considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the prayer made by learned counsel for the applicants is, hereby, refused.

After some arguments, learned counsel for the applicants wants to withdraw the application with liberty to file a regular bail application before the court of competent jurisdiction.

In case bail application is filed by the learned counsel for the applicants, the same shall be decided in the light of the observations made in the judgments rendered by the Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antil Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation & Another, (2022) 10 SCC 51 , wherein the Supreme Court considering the category(A) as mentioned in the paragraph no. 2, bail applications of such accused against which

charge-sheet has been submitted on appearance may be decided without the accused being taken in physical custody or by granting interim bail till the bail application is decided. It has been observed that at the cost of repetition, we wish to state that, in category A, one would except a better exercise of discretion on the part of the court in favour of the accused.

The application stands disposed of with the aforesaid liberty.

Order Date :- 18.2.2025 T. Sinha

Digitally signed by :- TRIPTI SINHA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad