Delhi High Court - Orders
Abul Hasan vs State And Anr on 1 November, 2023
Author: Amit Sharma
Bench: Amit Sharma
$~14
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 & CRL.M.A. 3365/2023 (Stay)
ABUL HASAN ..... Petitioner
Through: Dr. N. Pradeep Sharma, Mr. Namit
Yadav and Mr. Kirti Singh,
Advocates.
versus
STATE AND ANR. ..... Respondents
Through: Ms. Priyanka Dalal, APP for the
State.
SI Jaivind Kumar and WSI Dev Rani.
Mr. Raj Kumar Yadav and Mr. R.Pal
Singh, Advocates for R-2 alongwith
R-2 in person.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AMIT SHARMA
ORDER
% 01.11.2023
1. The present application under Section 438 read with Section 482 of the CrPC seeks anticipatory bail in case FIR No. 38/2023 under Sections 376/323/506/34 of the IPC registered at PS Jamia Nagar.
2. The case of the prosecution qua the applicant as stated in the status report dated 17.02.2023 authored by Inspector Mahesh Kasana, SHO PS Jamia Nagar is that the FIR was registered at the instance of the victim who alleged that:
i. In the year 2012, the victim was an employee of BMA Life Insurance Company, with its office in NOIDA and she met the applicant who was also her colleague.
ii. The applicant befriended her on the pretext of marriage.BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 1 of 8
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:21 iii. Based on the said promise, the victim broke off her engagement with another person.
iv. On 31.08.2013, the victim's father turned her out of the house as he was opposed to her relationship with the applicant. v. The victim then stayed at a PG for one month and later shifted to a hostel at the instance of the applicant.
vi. In 2013, the applicant himself began residing at an apartment in Jamia Nagar and used to invite the victim to the said flat on multiple occasions.
vii. Thereafter, the victim alleged that the applicant started physically and sexually harassing her and forced her to convert her religion. viii. In 2014, the applicant and the victim started residing together at the flat of the former's brother.
ix. In August 2014, the applicant resigned from his job, but the victim continued to work.
x. The victim alleged that the applicant used to emotionally blackmail her and delayed their marriage on the pretext of his sister's marriage. He forcefully established sexual relations with her. xi. In 2014 itself, the victim informed the applicant's father and other members of his family about the entire situation and they also started misbehaving with her and abusing her.
xii. On the pretext of family problems, the applicant began asking the victim for money.
xiii. The victim gave cash to the applicant out of her own saving which was used to purchase Flat No. S-10/12, Fourth Floor, in her name, in August 2015.BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 2 of 8
This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:21 xiv. The conflict between the applicant and the victim escalated in 2016.
xv. The victim shifted to the aforesaid flat.
xvi. The applicant started visiting her at the said flat as well and
established sexual relations with her, forcefully. xvii. In the year 2016, when the applicant still kept delaying marriage, they separated and did not speak with each other for two months. xviii. On 26.08.2017, the applicant called the victim, apologized and again promised that he would marry her.
xix. However, till 2018, the applicant still did not marry her. In mid-2018, the victim and the applicant shifted to the flat of the latter's brother and the victim started doing insurance work with the applicant. The victim was beaten and there was a quarrel between the two on the issue of marriage.
xx. Thereafter, the victim and the applicant shifted to another flat in Jasola Vihar, Delhi, where the former was again sexually assaulted, as a result of which she suffered a miscarriage.
xxi. By the end of November 2018, she was again forced to abort a baby and was given a medicine for the same.
xxii. The applicant kept delaying the marriage on the pretext of his sister's marriage and the exploitation of the victim continued. xxiii. After his sisters got married, the applicant told the victim that he would marry her on 01.01.2023. On 22.12.2022 when the victim spoke with the applicant about the same, they quarrelled and the applicant stated that he did not want to be with her anymore. xxiv. The victim further alleged that the applicant's family was also threatening and blackmailing her and that the applicant was in BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 3 of 8 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:21 possession of papers of her property and jewellery articles. xxv. On the complaint given by the victim based on the aforesaid allegations, the FIR was registered on 13.01.2023 at PS Jamia Nagar under Sections 376/323/506/345 of the IPC.
3. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant submits that the complainant/victim was in a relationship with the applicant since 2013. However, the applicant got to know that the victim married someone else in the year 2016, and thereafter differences crept in their relationship and the allegations made in the FIR are false and malicious.
4. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that as far as the financial transactions allegedly entered into between the latter and the victim are concerned, the applicant has handed over the papers of the property purportedly purchased by the applicant and the victim to the Investigating Officer alongwith his laptop for any investigation, if required. It is submitted that as far as the allegation that the applicant introduced himself as 'Aditya Singh' and the forged Voter-ID of the applicant is concerned, the issue has been raised by the victim for the first time before this Court. No allegations in that regard were made in the FIR or before the learned Trial Court. Be that as it may, it is submitted that the veracity of the said claim is a matter of trial and cannot be gone into at this stage, while considering an application for bail.
5. In support of his contentions, learned counsel for the applicant places reliance on a judgment dated 22.11.2018 passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1443/2018 titled 'Dr. Dhruvaram Murlidhar Sonar v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors.'.
6. Per contra, learned APP for the State assisted by learned counsel for BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 4 of 8 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:22 the complainant/victim opposes the present bail application. It is submitted that a bare reading of the FIR reflects that the relationship between the applicant and the victim was based on a false promise to marry made by the former. It is submitted that the applicant kept delaying the marriage on pretext or the other and eventually, refused to marry the victim. Learned APP places reliance on a judgment dated 20.05.2013 passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Criminal Appeal No. 2322/2010 titled Deepak Gulati v. State of Haryana. It is submitted that the property papers and some jewellery has been returned to the victim. However, it is submitted that the victim has categorically given details of money given by her to the applicant and his brother which has not been returned. It is submitted that the applicant emotionally blackmailed her and extracted money.
7. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the complainant submits that the applicant had married the victim on 27.10.2020 and later resiledfrom the same, learned APP for the State submits that the said submission was made before this Court for the first time and nothing in that regard has been stated by the victim either in the FIR or in her statement recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC. Learned counsel for the complainant submits that at one point, the applicant did purportedly perform nikah with the victim at a 'madrasa' in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh on 27.10.2020. On instructions of the Investigating Officer who is present in Court, learned APP for the State submits the same has not been verified as no proof of the nikah was found when the Investigating Officer went to the place to enquire about the same.
8. It is submitted that the victim suffered one miscarriage and was forced to abort a child by the applicant owing to the fact that they were not married and hence, bearing a child was opposed to his religion.
BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 5 of 8This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:22
9. Learned counsel for the complainant submits that the applicant had befriended the victim by introducing himself as 'Aditya Singh' and had also shown her a Voter-ID as proof of identity. Later, the victim discovered the applicant's real identity as 'Abul Hasan' in the year 2013. Learned APP for the State submits that the aforesaid Voter-ID No. NWD4426218 of the applicant in the name of 'Aditya Singh' has also been found to be forged.
10. Learned APP for the State submits that the chargesheet in the present case has been filed under Sections 376/323/509/377 of the IPC qua the applicant and under Sections 506/509/34 qua members of his family. It is submitted that a supplementary chargesheet will be filed after further investigation.
11. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
12. A perusal of the FIR registered at the instance of the victim reflects that she met the applicant, i.e., Abul Hasan while they were employees of BMA Life Insurance Company in 2012. It is not the case in the FIR that that applicant introduced himself as 'Aditya Singh' which is also reflected from the fact that the victim herself admits that her father turned her out of the house in 2013 on account of her relationship with the applicant.
13. During the course of arguments in the present application, it was contended on behalf of the complainant that the applicant had married her at a 'madrasa' in Amroha. The fact that the applicant married the victim on 27.10.2020 at a 'madrasa' in Amroha has not been mentioned in the FIR. Moreover, in the FIR it has been stated that the applicant was refusing to marry her.
14. The fact that the applicant and the complainant were in a relationship since 2013 cannot be ignored for the purposes of the present application.
BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 6 of 8This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:22 Admittedly, the complainant is a well-educated working professional, who at various points of time, was living at her own flat.
15. After being granted interim protection by this Court vide order dated 21.02.2023, the applicant has joined investigation as and when called for by the Investigating Officer. It is further pertinent to note that during the course of investigation, the applicant has handed over papers of property, jewellery articles, his laptop to the Investigating Officer. As per the status report, the chargesheet in the present case stands filed in the Court of competent jurisdiction.
16. In totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, the present application is allowed. In the event of arrest, the applicant is directed to be released on bail on his furnishing personal bond of Rs. 50,000/- with one surety of like amount to the satisfaction of learned Trial Court/Link Court/Investigating Officer, further subject to following conditions:
i. The applicant shall not leave the country without prior permission of the learned Trial Court.
ii. The applicant shall intimate the learned Trial Court by way of an affidavit and to the Investigating Officer regarding any change in residential address.
iii. The applicant shall appear before the learned Trial Court as and when the matter is taken up for hearing.
iv. The applicant shall join investigation as and when called by the Investigating Officer concerned.
v. The applicant will not try to influence the witnesses in any manner.
vi. The applicant shall provide his mobile number to the BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 7 of 8 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:22 Investigating Officer and intimate about any change.
17. The application is allowed and disposed of accordingly.
19. Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of.
19. Needless to state that nothing stated hereinabove is an opinion on the merits of the case.
20. Order be uploaded on the website of this court forthwith.
AMIT SHARMA, J NOVEMBER 01, 2023/sn BAIL APPLN. 263/2023 Page 8 of 8 This is a digitally signed order.
The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 03/11/2023 at 00:20:22