Amreesh Kumar v. State of U.P. Thru. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. and Another

Court No. - 12 Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 2178 of 2023 Appellant :- Amreesh Kumar Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Secy. Home Deptt. Lko. And Another Counsel for Appellant :- Arshad Siddiqui,Anand Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- G.A. Hon'ble Rajeev Singh,J.

¶1Heard learned counsel for the appellant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the entire record.

¶2As per ofÏce report dated 03.08.2023, the notice upon the respondent no. 2, but neither unserved notice nor acknowledgement has been received.

¶3This Criminal Appeal under Section 14-A (2) Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been preferred against the order dated 13.07.2023 passed by the Special Judge, SC/ST Act, Barabanki in Case Crime No. 262 of 2022, under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 504, 506 I.P.C. and Sections 3(1)(da), 3(1)(dha), 3(2)(V) SC/ST Act, Police Station Safdarganj, District Barabanki, whereby the bail application of the appellant has been rejected.

¶3Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the present appellant has been falsely implicated in this case due to some ulterior motive as there is no material on record to suggest that the appellant was involved in the commission of the alleged offence. His further submission is that the appellant was not named in the first information report. However, upon conclusion of the investigation, charge sheet came to be filed against the present appellant without collecting credible evidence against him. His further submission is that the present appellant is neither the purchaser nor seller of the alleged property.

¶4Learned counsel for the appellant has drawn attention of this Court to the fact that the co-accused, Poonam Devi, who executed the alleged sale deed and belongs to SC/ST community and Mohammad Faheem, who is a marginal witness and Kuldeep Kumar Yadav have already been granted bail by co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide orders dated 14.03.2023, 03.01.2023 and 29.03.2023 passed in Criminal Misc. Bail Application Nos. 12551 of 2022 & 15249 of 2022 and Criminal Appeal No. 475 of 2023, respectively. Learned counsel for the appellant has also submitted that in case, the appellant is enlarged on bail, he shall not misuse the liberty of bail and he shall also fully cooperate with the trial court in getting the trial concluded expeditiously. He has further submitted that there is no possibility of the appellant to intimidate or pressurize the witnesses or any other persons acquainted with the facts of the present case. The accused/appellant is languishing in jail since 30.06.2023, who has no previous criminal history.

¶5For the aforesaid reasons, learned counsel for the appellant submits that the instant criminal appeal deserves to be allowed. The impugned order dated 13.07.2023 deserves to be set aside and consequently the appellant deserves to be enlarged on bail during pendency of the trial.

¶6Per contra, learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the prayer by submitting that though the name of the appellant did not mention in the first information report, however, upon conclusion of the investigation, charge sheet came to be filed against him. However, he could not dispute the other factual submissions advanced by learned counsel for the appellant including the fact that the present appellant is neither the purchaser nor seller of the alleged property.

¶7Having heard the learned counsel for the appellant, learned A.G.A. for the State and upon perusal of record, it transpires that the appellant was not named in the first information report. Upon conclusion of the investigation, charge sheet came to be filed against the present appellant. The present appellant is neither the purchaser nor seller of the alleged property. The co-accused, Poonam Devi, who executed the alleged sale deed and belongs to SC/ST community and Mohammad Faheem, who is a marginal witness, have already been granted bail by co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide orders dated 14.03.2023 and 03.01.2023 passed in Criminal Misc. Bail Application Nos.12551 of 2022 & 15249 of 2022, respectively. The accused/appellant is languishing in jail since 30.06.2023, who has no previous criminal history.

¶8Considering the facts and circumstance of the case, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Court of the view that the learned court below has failed to appreciate the material available on record. The order passed by the court below is liable to be set aside.

¶9Accordingly, the appeal is allowed and the order dated

13.07.2023 passed by theSpecial Judge, SC/ST Act, Barabanki in Case Crime No. 262 of 2022, under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 504, 506 I.P.C. and Sections 3(1)

(da), 3(1)(dha), 3(2)(V) SC/ST Act, Police Station Safdarganj, District Barabanki is set aside.

¶10Let the appellant, Amreesh Kumar be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number with the following conditions:-

(i) The appellant shall furnish a personal bond with two sureties each of like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned.

(ii) The appellant shall appear and strictly comply following terms of bond executed under section 437 sub section 3 of Chapter-33 of Cr.P.C.:-

(a) The appellant shall attend in accordance with the conditions of the bond executed under this Chapter.

(b) The appellant shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which he is accused, or suspected, of the commission of which he is suspected, and

(c) The appellant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police ofÏcer or tamper with the evidence.

(iii) The appellant shall cooperate with investigation /trial.

(iv) The appellant shall file an undertaking to the effect that he shall not seek any adjournment on the dates fixed for evidence when the witnesses are present in court. In case of default of this condition, it shall be open for the trial court to treat it as abuse of liberty of bail and pass orders in accordance with law.

(v) The appellant shall remain present before the trial court on each date fixed, either personally or through his counsel. In case of his absence, the trial court may proceed against him under Section 229-A of the Indian Penal Code.

(vi) In case, the appellant misuses the liberty of bail during trial, in order to secure his presence, proclamation under section 82 Cr.P.C. is issued and the appellant fails to appear before the court on the date fixed in such proclamation, then, the trial court shall initiate proceedings against him, in accordance with law, under Section 174-A of the Indian Penal Code.

(vii) The appellant shall remain present, before the trial court on the dates fixed for (i) opening of the case, (ii) framing of charge and (iii) recording of statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. If in the opinion of the trial court absence of the appellant is deliberate or without sufÏcient cause, then it shall be open for the trial court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed against him in accordance with law. Order Date :- 26.10.2023 VKS High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench