Patna High Court - Orders
Pramod Kumar Singh @ Pramod Kumar vs The State Of Bihar on 5 January, 2022
Author: Ashwani Kumar Singh
Bench: Ashwani Kumar Singh, Anjani Kumar Sharan
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL APPEAL (DB) No.1096 of 2019
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-46 Year-1999 Thana- AGIAON BAZAR District- Bhojpur
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Pramod Kumar Singh @ Pramod Kumar, Son of Ram Briksh Singh, Resident
of Village Kharikon, Police Station Agiaon Bazar, District Bhojpur.
... ... Appellant
Versus
The State of Bihar.
... ... Respondent
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Appearance :
For the Appellant : Mr. Arvind Kumar Pandey, Advocate
For the State : Dr. Mayanand Jha, Senior Advocate
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANJANI KUMAR SHARAN
ORAL ORDER
(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ASHWANI KUMAR SINGH)
7 05-01-2022Ref: I.A. No.1 of 2020 Heard Mr. Arvind Kumar Pandey, learned counsel for the appellant and Dr. Mayanand Jha, learned Senior Counsel for the State being assisted by Mr. Atul Kumar Pandey, Advocate through virtual court proceedings.
By filing I.A. No.1 of 2020 preferred under Section 389(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the appellant has renewed his prayer for suspension of sentence and grant of bail during the pendency of appeal. The appellant has been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act. His prayer for bail was earlier rejected by this Court vide order dated Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.1096 of 2019(7) dt.05-01-2022 2/4 19.12.2019.
Learned counsel appearing for the appellant contended that by now the appellant has remained in custody for seven years and there is no likelihood of the appeal being taken up for hearing in near future. He submitted that in the instant case the date of occurrence is 30.11.1999. The victim was taken to PMCH on the same day. He died on 01.12.1999 while undergoing treatment at PMCH. The informant Gupteshwar Singh, father of the deceased, gave his fardbeyan at PMCH on 01.12.1999, which was forwarded to Agiaon police station. However, the FIR was not instituted on the basis of the said fardbeyan. The informant gave another fardbeyan before the police on 03.12.1999 on the basis of which the FIR was Instituted. He contended that the subsequent fardbeyan is hit by Section 162 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. He contended that as per the prosecution case, when the son of the informant, namely, Ajit Singh was on his way to dalan and he reached near north-west corner of the appellant's house, the brother of the appellant, namely, Pradeep Singh @ Lala called out to him. As soon as the deceased turned towards Pradeep Kumar, the appellant Pramod Kumar fired at the deceased leaning from his rooftop and the bullet hit the deceased on his head above the ear. Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.1096 of 2019(7) dt.05-01-2022 3/4 However, he submitted that the doctor, who conducted the postmortem examination admitted in cross-examination that none of the injuries on the person of the victim was found from upward to downward direction at the time of conducting the postmortem examination. He further admitted that when a person fires from the roof of a house on the person standing below, the injuries would be downward in direction. On the basis of the aforesaid evidence of the doctor, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the appellant has a chance of succeeding in appeal and if bail would not be granted to him, he would serve out the entire sentence during the pendency of appeal.
On the other hand, Dr. Mayanand Jha, learned Senior Counsel for the State submitted that it is well settled principle of law that in a case of conflict between ocular testimony and medical evidence, the ocular testimony would prevail. He submitted that the informant and one his sons have fully supported the case of the prosecution. The defence could not impeach the credit to those two witnesses and on the basis of that the trial court has rightly concluded and held the appellant guilty for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
Patna High Court CR. APP (DB) No.1096 of 2019(7) dt.05-01-2022 4/4 Considering the period of seven years undergone by the appellant in custody, the unlikelihood of the appeal being taken up for hearing in near future and the guidelines relating to grant of bail to convicts during pendency of appeal issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kashmira Singh vs. State of Punjab since reported in (1977) 4 SCC 291, the appellant is directed to be released on bail, during pendency of the appeal, 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 Sessions Judge-VII, Bhojpur at Ara in connection with S.T. No.139 of 2000, arising out of Agiaon Bazar P.S. Case No.46 of 1999, subject to deposit of fine awarded by the trial court as part of sentence.
I.A. No.1 of 2020 stands allowed.
(Ashwani Kumar Singh, J.) ( Anjani Kumar Sharan, J.) Sanjay/-
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