Sulakhan Singh and 2 Others vs State of Up and Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Sulakhan Singh and 2 Others vs State of Up and Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Prayer to quash the proceedings refused; counsel permitted to withdraw the application with liberty to file a regular bail application before the court of competent jurisdiction, any such application to be decided in light of Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, (2022) 10 SCC 51.

Issue for consideration

Whether the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 2060 of 2018 (State Vs. Sulakhan Singh and others), arising out of Case Crime No. 86 of 2018, and the cognizance/summoning order dated 04.12.2018 pending before the Civil Judge (S.D.), Sonbhadra, should be quashed pursuant to the application under Section 482 CrPC, 1973. +1 more

Court's answer

Upon considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the court refused the applicants' prayer to quash the proceedings of Criminal Case No. 2060 of 2018 and the cognizance/summoning order dated 04.12.2018.

Ratio / Principle

After some arguments, learned counsel for the applicants sought to withdraw the Section 482 application with liberty to file a regular bail application before the court of competent jurisdiction, and the application stands disposed of with that liberty.

Key takeaways

If a regular bail application is thereafter filed by the applicants, it shall be decided in the light of the observations made by the Supreme Court in Satender Kumar Antil v. 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.ratio¶11

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Allahabad High Court (Court No. 75), Single Bench — Sanjay Kumar Pachori, J.; Order dated 18.2.2025; Application U/S 482 No. 33439 of 2024 (Neutral Citation 2025:AHC:23001). Applicants (Sulakhan Singh and 2 others) sought quashing of the entire proceedings of Criminal Case No. 2060 of 2018 (State Vs. Sulakhan Singh and others), arising out of Case Crime No. 86 of 2018 under Sections 147, 148, 323, 504, 427, 506, 325 I.P.C., Police Station Chopan, District Sonbhadra, and the cognizance/summoning order dated 04.12.2018 pending before Civil Judge (S.D.), Sonbhadra. The charge-sheet had been submitted without arrest; counsel submitted the offence was punishable up to 7 years' imprisonment. The court refused the quashing prayer; counsel then withdrew the application with liberty to file a regular bail application, and the application stood disposed of. Any subsequent bail application is to be decided in light of the Supreme Court's observations in Satender Kumar Antil v. CBI, (2022) 10 SCC 51 (category 'A': bail of accused surrendering/appearing upon submission of charge-sheet may be decided without physical custody or via interim bail till decision).

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:23001

Court No. - 75

Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 33439 of 2024

Applicant :- Sulakhan Singh And 2 Others Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Himanshu Srivastava,Madan Lal Srivastava Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

Hon'ble Sanjay Kumar Pachori,J.

Sri Madan Lal Srivastava, learned counsel for the applicants and Sri Pankaj Kumar Rai, 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. 2060 of 2018, (State Vs. Sulakhan Singh and others) arising out of Case Crime No. 86 of 2018, under Sections 147, 148, 323, 504, 427, 506, 325 of I.P.C., Police StationChopan, District- Sonbhadra, as well as cognizance/ summoning order 04.12.2018 pending in the Court of Civil Judge (S.D.), Sonbhadra.

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 Ishan

Digitally signed by :- ISHAN JAISWAL High Court of Judicature at Allahabad