Sagar v. State of U.P. and Another

Court No. - 85 Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 11356 of 2023 Appellant :- Sagar Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Appellant :- Pawan Singh Pundir Counsel for Respondent :- G.A. Hon'ble Mayank Kumar Jain,J. Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned AGA for opposite party no.1 and perused the material placed on record. The present criminal appeal under Section 14-A(2) Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been filed by the appellant to set aside the impugned order dated

18.10.2023 passed by the Special Judge, SC/ST Act, Saharanpur in case crime no. 158 of 2023, under Section 376, 323 & 506 of IPC, and under Section 3(2)(5) of SC/ST Act, Police Station Gagal Heri, District Sahranpur. As per the F.I.R, there is an allegation against the appellant that he had committed rape with the prosecutrix on 26.08.2023 at around 5:00 p.m when she was working in her uncle's field. Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that appellant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case. He further submitted that the age of the victim is 18 years, therefore, she was major at the time of incident and was a consenting party. The medical report of the victim does not corroborate with the version of the F.I.R. During investigation the victim had submitted before the investigating officer that she had settled the dispute with the appellant and does not want to proceed with the case. Appellant is languishing in jail since 31.08.2023 having no criminal history. In case, the appellant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail. Per contra, learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the prayer for grant of bail to the appellant and submitted that appellant is named in the F.I.R. Charge-sheet has been filed by the investigating officer against the appellant. The victim in her statement recorded under Sections 161 an 164 Cr.P.C consistently corroborated that appellant had committed rape with her. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions of learned counsel for the parties and keeping in view the active participation of the appellant in the commission of crime, I do not find it fit case for bail. Since, the trial court has passed the impugned order after appreciating the evidence available on record, there is no occasion to interfere with the finding of facts recorded by the trial court, hence, the present criminal appeal lacks merit and deserves to be dismissed. Accordingly, the criminal appeal is dismissed. However, the trial court is directed to expedite the trial and to record the statement of the victim within a period of three months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order without granting any unnecessary adjournment to either of the parties subject to full co-operation by the appellant. Order Date :- 11.12.2023 PS High Court of Judicature at Allahabad