The Patna High Court granted bail to the petitioner in a kidnapping case where allegations were based entirely on hearsay from an unexamined witness, despite the chargesheet being filed.
Release on bail via bond of Rs. 10,000/- with two sureties under s. 437(3) Cr.P.C.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.7005 of 2022
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-636 Year-2021 Thana- PATRAKARNAGAR District- Patna
======================================================
Rajan Kumar Son of Gandhi Paswan Resident of SArbarpur, Bandhu Bigha, Police Station- Bandhu Bigha, District - Arwal.
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
The State of Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Gajanan Mishra, Advocate For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Md. Fahimuddin, APP ======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE CHANDRA SHEKHAR JHA ORAL ORDER
3 10-10-2022
Heard learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and learned APP appearing on behalf of the State.
Let the defect(s), if any, be removed within a period of four weeks from today.
The petitioner seeks bail in connection with Patrakar Nagar P.S. Case No. 636 of 2021 registered for the offence under Section 364(A) of the Indian Penal Code.
The accused/petitioner is named in the F.I.R. and is in custody since 15.11.2021.
The allegation against the petitioner is to kidnap the father of the informant for ransom.
Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submitted that the entire allegation is based upon the hearsay input, as provided to the informant of this case, by his brother,
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.7005 of 2022(3) dt.10-10-2022 2/3
interestingly, who had not been examined during the course of investigation. It is submitted that no statement of victim, who is the father of the informant, was ever recorded, whose appearance was just after two hours of the alleged kidnapping. It is further submitted that, admittedly, petitioner was working with the victim/father of the informant and was implicated falsely in the present case, due to difference between the two brothers, where informant is one of them. While concluding the argument, it is submitted that petitioner is a man of clean antecedent and, moreover, investigation in this case is complete for which chargesheet has been submitted, as such, there is no chance of tampering with the evidence.
Learned APP appearing on behalf of the State, while opposing the prayer of bail, fairly conceded the fact that statement of victim was not recorded during the course of investigation.
In view of the facts and circumstances, as mentioned above, as the entire allegation is based upon the hearsay input of brother of the informant, who had not been examined during the course of investigation coupled with the fact that chargesheet has already been submitted, let the petitioner, above named, is directed to be released on bail in connection with Patrakar
Patna High Court CR. MISC. No.7005 of 2022(3) dt.10-10-2022 3/3
Nagar P.S. Case No. 636 of 2021 on furnishing bail bond of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate-VIII, Patna/concerned Court, subject to the conditions as laid down u/s 437(3) of the Cr.P.C.
(Chandra Shekhar Jha, J)
Ankit/-
U T
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the petitioner is eligible for bail given that the entire allegation is based on hearsay input from an unexamined witness.
Whether the submission of the chargesheet in a case based solely on hearsay requires the release of the accused on bail.
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Rajan Kumar
The State of Bihar
Chandra Shekhar Jha
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
