In a criminal miscellaneous petition connected with bail forfeiture, the Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur granted relief to sureties by waiving penalty when the accused traced them and surrendered immediately before arrest.
Waiver of entire amount of penalty imposed on sureties and closure of proceedings under Section 446 Cr.P.C. against them.
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.
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JODHPUR
D.B. Criminal Misc(Pet.) No. 2660/2023
State Of Rajasthan, Through Pp
----Petitioner
Versus
----Respondents
CONNECTED WITH
D.B. Criminal Appeal No. 922/2007
Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal S/o Purnaram, B/c Meghwal, R/o Taranagar, Churu.
----Appellant
Versus
State of Rajasthan
----Respondent
For Petitioner/Respondent–State : Mr. R.R. Chhaparwal, P.P. For Appellant/Respondent(s) : Mr. J.D.S. Bhati Present in person : Mr. Vijay Kumar, Constable, P.S. Taranagar, Churu
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJAY BISHNOI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJENDRA PRAKASH SONI
Order
14/08/2023
The accused appellant/respondent No.1 viz. Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal S/o Purnaram was convicted and sentenced vide judgment dated 30.07.2007 passed by the Additional Sessions
[CRLMP-2660/2023]
(2 of 4)
Judge, Rajgarh, District Churu (hereinafter to be referred as ‘the trial court’) in Sessions Case No.1/2007.
This Court vide order dated 06.12.2013 suspended the sentence of accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal subject to the conditions that (i) he shall execute a personal bond of Rs.25,000/- along with two sureties of likewise amount to the satisfaction of the trial court and (ii) he shall appear before the trial court for marking his presence in the month of January of every year.
Upon furnishing the personal bond and two sureties, accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal was released from jail, however, in the month of January 2020, he was failed to mark his presence before the trial court.
In view of the above facts and circumstances, this Court gave some time to the police to trace out accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal, however, when the police failed to trace him out then on 01.05.2023, his bail bonds were forfeited and order for issuance of arrest warrant was issued against him and simultaneously proceeding under Section 446 Cr.P.C. was also ordered to be initiated qua the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh.
Pursuant to the said proceedings, notices were served upon the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh and learned counsel Mr. J.D.S. Bhati appeared on their behalf.
(3 of 4) [CRLMP-2660/2023]
Meanwhile, the police have also arrested the accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal and he is also produced before this Court today.
An application has been preferred on behalf of the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh with a prayer to remit the portion of penalty.
Learned counsel appearing for the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh has argued that as a matter of fact the accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal absconded without informing them. It is also submitted that the above named sureties have tried their best to trace out the accused appellant/respondent No.1, however, they have failed to do so.
Ultimately, when the accused appellant/respondent No.1 – Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal reached his village day before yesterday, the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh have immediately informed the police and the police have thereafter arrested the accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal.
Learned counsel appearing for the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh has submitted that as a matter of fact the above named sureties stood as sureties of accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal in the belief that he will abide by the conditions mentioned in the order of suspension of his sentence. It is, therefore, prayed that this Court may consider for waiving of the penalty.
[CRLMP-2660/2023]
(4 of 4)
Taking into consideration the above facts and circumstance of the case and also taking into consideration the fact that the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh have immediately informed the police as and when they came to know about the accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal, we deem it appropriate to waive the entire amount of penalty imposed upon the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh while initiating the proceedings under Section 446 Cr.P.C.
Accordingly, the entire amount of penalty imposed upon the sureties i.e. respondent Nos.2 and 3 viz. Purnaram and Dungarsingh are waived and the proceeding initiated under Section 446 Cr.P.C. against them stands closed.
The accused appellant/respondent No.1 - Bhalla Ram @ Bhanwar Lal be sent to the judicial custody for serving out the remaining sentence.
With these observations, the criminal misc. petition is disposed of.
(RAJENDRA PRAKASH SONI),J
(VIJAY BISHNOI),J
Abhishek Kumar S.Nos.33-34
2 issues framed by the court
Whether penalty against sureties under Section 446 Cr.P.C. may be waived where accused was traced by sureties immediately upon realization of absconding.
Whether bail bonds forfeited upon failure of accused to appear before trial court should remain operative given the sureties' prompt action in tracing him.
2 provisions across 1 enactments
State Of Rajasthan
Bhalla Ram
Purnaram
Dungarsingh
VIJAY BISHNOI
RAJENDRA PRAKASH SONI
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
