Partly allowed

Shankar Punjaji Jondhale v. the State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Bombay HC17 Oct 2005APPLN/2723/2005

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Criminal Bail Application filed by an accused convicted of murder. The High Court granted bail, holding that the conviction could not be sustained on the remaining prosecution evidence as key circumstances had been disbelieved and the accused had no antecedents.

What did the court decide?

The applicant was ordered to be released on bail in the sum of Rs.5,000/- each with one or two sureties of the like amount.

Shankar Punjaji Jondhale Vs the State of… — Murder and Culpable Homicide | Bombay HC (2005)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.2723 OF 2005 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.443 OF 2005 Shankar Punjaji Jondhale .. Applicant v/s. The State of Maharashtra Through Panchvati P.Stn.,Nasik and anr. .. Respondents Ms.D.A.Dhamale for the applicant. Mr.S.S.Pednekar, Addl. Public Prosecutor for the State.

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CORAM : SMT.RANJANA DESAI AND ANOOP V. MOHTA, JJ. DATED : 17th October, 2005.

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P.C.
The		appell	ant is	the	origi	nal accused No.2	in
Sessions	Case		No.46	of	2004.	He was	convicted
alongwith		the	original	ac	cused	No.1 under	section
302	read	with	section	34	I.P.C.	and sentenced	to
suffer R	.I.	fo	r life.		The	appeal preferred by	him
is admitted. application.	Today, w	e are co	nsidering the	bail
2.	Admitt	edly,	there		is no	eye witness to	the
incident	in		question.		The	prosecution story	is
based	on		the	c	ircumstan	tial evidence.	The
circumstances		have	been		noted	by the	learned
Sessions Jud which read th	ge in par us-	agraph	13 of his judg	ment

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"(i) Deceased Vinod was last seen together in the company of both the accused on the fateful night.

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	(ii) Detection of Petrol resides partially burnt clothes deceased Vinod, on his diary containing cash of which was allegedly recovered accused No.1 and finding of human blood on his shirt.	on of pocket Rs.260/- from
	(iii) Seizure of Auto-Rickshaw from possession of accused No.2 Shankar and Screw Driver from its dicky.	the
	(iv) Subsequent conduct of accused giving false explanation about deceased Vinod.	No.1
	(v) Finding of Finger print of No.2, one plastic bottle seized from the spot. (vi) Motive."	accused
3.	The learned Judge has held that the motive	is
not	proved by the prosecution. He has also	held
that	he is not inclined to place implicit	reliance
on	the finding of chance print of the right	middle
finger	of the applicant on the plastic bottle	found
at the	scene of offence. So far as finding	of
screw	driver from the dicky of the rickshaw	is
concerned,	the learned Judge has come to	the
conclusion	that considering the medical	evidence,
this	circumstance is also of no significance.	It
appears	that the panchas have turned	hostile.
Since	out of the six circumstances,	three
circumstances	which were against the applicant	have
been	disbelieved, prima facie, we feel that it	is
difficult	to sustain the conviction on	the
remaining	two circumstances. We are also	informed
that	the applicant has no antecedents. Hence,	we

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feel that he ought to be released on bail. In the

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circumstances, we pass the following order:-

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4.	The	ap	plicant S	hankar		Punjaji	J	ondhale	is
ordered	to	be	released	on	bail	in	the	sum	of
Rs.5,000/-	each		with one	or	two	sureti	es	of	the
like	amount.		While	on	bail,	the	appli	cant	shall

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attend Panchvati Police Station, Nasik once in a

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month.

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Application disposed of in the aforesaid terms.

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(SMT.RANJANA DESAI, J.)

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(ANOOP V. MOHTA, J.)

Shankar Punjaji Jondhale v. the State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Shankar Punjaji Jondhale v. the State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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