Allowed

Rajendra Bhausaheb @Digambar Nirmal and Others v. the State of Maharashtra and Another

Bombay HC11 Mar 2024APEAL/8/2024

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Appeals under section 14A(2) of the SC/ST Act against refusal of pre-arrest protection. The High Court found only vague and general allegations against most accused, with no recovery from them, and held custodial detention unnecessary.

What did the court decide?

Order below Exhibit-1 in Bail Application No. 489/2023 set aside; interim protection confirmed with conditions to attend police station as called and not tamper evidence.

Rajendra Bhausaheb @Digambar Nirmal and Others Vs the State… — Caste Atrocities | Bombay HC (2024)

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2024:BHC-AUG:5456

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28.1-APEAL-41-2024

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD

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CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 41 OF 2024

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Jayashri Dadasaheb Ghorpade 2. Sangita Ashok Ghorpade 3. Kalpana Sopan Nirmal 4. Sonali Ravi Nirmal 5. Shravani Ganesh Nirmal 6. Somnath Vasant Nirmal 7. Snehal Ramakant Pawar 8. Popat Appasaheb Nirmal 9. Ashok Bhanudas Nirmal 10. Mina @ Minakshi Bhimraj Nirmal ... APPELLANTS VERSUS

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The State of Maharashtra & Others ... RESPONDENTS WITH

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CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 21 OF 2024

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Kailas Sonyabapu Ghorpade 2. Nitin Babasaheb Ghorpade 3. Dipak Raghunath Nirmal 4. Ramakant Bhausaheb Pawar 5. Dadasaheb Babasaheb Ghorpade 6. Ashok Bhagwat Ghorpade 7. Ganesh Ashok Nirmal ... APPELLANTS VERSUS

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The State of Maharashtra & Others ... RESPONDENTS WITH

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CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 22 OF 2024

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Sunil Murlidhar Ghorpade 2. Shivnath Nevaji Ghorpade 3. Kailas Dhondiram Ghorpade 4. Nandu Govardhan Nirmal ... APPELLANTS Bhagyawant Punde

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{2} 28.1-APEAL-41-2024 VERSUS The State of Maharashtra & Others ... RESPONDENTS WITH CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 23 OF 2024 1. Sagar Raosaheb More 2. Ganesh Suryabhan Nirmal 3. Surekha Shivnath Ghorpade ... APPELLANTS VERSUS The State of Maharashtra & Others ... RESPONDENTS WITH CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 25 OF 2024 1. Arjun Vitthal Nirmal 2. Sunil Vitthal Nirmala 3. Ashish Chandrabhan Nirmal 4. Ravi Namdeo Ghorpade 5. Suraj Balasaheb Nirmal 6. Dipak Jalinder Nirmal ... APPELLANTS VERSUS The State of Maharashtra & Others ... RESPONDENTS WITH CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 26 OF 2024 1. Anita Kailas Ghorpade 2. Mahesh Balasaheb Nirmal 3. Dipak Jagannath Ghorpade 4. Abhijit Bhimraj Nirmal 5. Nikhil Prakash Nirmal ... APPELLANTS VERSUS The State of Maharashtra & Others ... RESPONDENTS

28.1-APEAL-41-2024

Bhagyawant Punde

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28.1-APEAL-41-2024

WITH

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 7 OF 2024

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1. Jayshree Shivaji Kadam 2. Anita Sandip Ghorpade 3. Maya Kailas Ghorpade 4. Sarika Nitin Ghorpade 5. Namrata Dipak Nirmal 6. Kavita Balasaheb Nirmal ... APPELLANTS VERSUS

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The State of Maharashtra & Another ... RESPONDENTS WITH

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CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 8 OF 2024

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1. Rajendra Bhausaheb @ Digambar Nirmal 2. Narayan Murlidhar Ghorpade 3. Shivaji Janardhan Kadam @ Sanjay Shivaji Kadam (wrongly mentioned in FIR) 4. Sandip Vitthal Ghorpade 5. Yogesh Dyandeo Ghorpade 6. Umesh Changdeo Ghorpade 7. Sachin Uttamrao Nirmal ... APPELLANTS VERSUS

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The State of Maharashtra & Another ... RESPONDENTS

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Mr. V.D. Hon, Senior Advocate i/by. Mr. A.V. Hon, Advocate for appellants in Criminal Appeal Nos. 41/2024, 21/2024, 22/2024, 23/2024, 25/2024, 26/2024. Mr. S.S. Chapalgaonkar, Advocate for appellants in Criminal Appeals No. 7/2024 and 8/2024. Mr. N.B. Patil, APP for respondent-State. Ms. Sunita G. Sonawane, Advocate for informant.

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Bhagyawant Punde

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{4} 28.1-APEAL-41-2024

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[CORAM : NITIN B. SURYAWANSHI, J.]

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DATE : 11th MARCH, 2024

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ORDER :

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These appeals filed under section 14A(2) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, take exception to the common order dated 21.12.2023, passed by learned Judge, Special Court, Kopargaon, below Exhibit-1 in Criminal Bail Application No. 489/2023.

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Respondent No. 2 lodged FIR alleging that on 04.12.2023, there was exchange of words between informant’s son Vishal Kolge and Datatraya Nirmal, resident of Nirmal Pimpri village. At Saikiran Hotel said dispute was settled by Somnath Ghorpade, Ravi Nirmal, Sunil Ghorpae and Karan Kolge. At that time, Somnath Ghorpade caught collar of informant’s son and abused him. One waiter from the said hotel lodged complaint with the police about the said incident. Thereafter, Vishal Kolgeinformant’s son made a phone call to Deepak Nirmal and abused Somnath Ghorpade in filthy language. Said talk was recorded by Deepak Nirmal and he made it viral on villagers group. On 04.06.2023, there was quarrel on account of said audio clip, but it was settled. On 06.12.2023, at about 1.00 pm, employees of village panchayat i.e. Ravindra Nirmal and Ganesh Jadhav came

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Bhagyawant Punde

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{5} 28.1-APEAL-41-2024

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to the house of informant and told her that villagers have given them a message that they should leave the village with their household articles by 6.00 pm. Informant asked them to give the said message in writing. Thereafter, at about 6.30 pm, about 100 villagers including ladies came in front of informant’s house. From the ladies, Latabai Nirmal and Vanita Ghorpade abused informant in the name of her caste. Vanita, Ghorpade, Shubham Ghorpade, Somnath Ghorpade entered in informant’s house and they threw their household articles. Three bags of wheat are also thrown out of the house. Stones are pelted on informant’s house and shade net of goat, behind the house of informant was set on fire.

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Heard learned Senior Advocate for appellants in Appeal No. 41/2024, 21/2024, 22/2024, 23/2024, 25/2024, 26/2024, learned advocate for appellants in Appeal Nos. 7/2024 and 8/2024, learned APP for respondent-State and learned advocate for informant. Perused the record.

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Appellants in these appeals belong to upper caste, but there are no allegations against them that they have abused informant in the name of her caste. Those allegations are only against Latabai Nirmal, Vanita, Ghorpade, Shubham Ghorpade

Bhagyawant Punde

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28.1-APEAL-41-2024

and Somnath Ghorpade

Learned advocate for informant submits that since

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sections 147, 148 and 149 of IPC are applied in the present case, all the accused persons are responsible for the act done by each member of unlawful assembly.

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Taking into consideration the allegations made in the FIR and the papers of investigation it appears that there are vague and general allegations against appellants. Nothing is to recovered from them, hence, their pre-trial custodial detention is not necessary.

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In the result, appeals are allowed by setting aside order dated 21.12.2023, passed by learned Judge, Special Court, Kopargaon, below Exhibit-1 in Criminal Bail Application No. 489/2023.

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Interim protection granted to appellants is hereby confirmed.

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Till filing of charge sheet, appellants shall attend the concerned police station, as and when called by investigating officer and shall co-operated in the investigation. Appellants shall not tamper the prosecution evidence.

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[NITIN B. SURYAWANSHI, J.]

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Bhagyawant Punde

Rajendra Bhausaheb @Digambar Nirmal and Others v. the State of Maharashtra and Another

Case brief

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What did the court decide?

Rajendra Bhausaheb @Digambar Nirmal and Others v. the State of Maharashtra and Another

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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Issues for consideration

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