Allahabad High Court
Audhesh Shukla vs State Of U.P. on 12 October, 2020
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 54 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 25552 of 2020 Applicant :- Audhesh Shukla Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Man Bahadur Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Rahul Mishra,Rajeev Upadhyay Hon'ble Dinesh Kumar Singh-I,J.
Supplementary-Affidavit has been filed by learned counsel for the applicant and the same is taken on record.
Heard Sri Man Bahadur Singh, learned counsel for the applicant, Sri Rahul Mishra, learned counsel for the complainant and Sri B.A. Khan, learned A.G.A. for the State.
This Bail Application (under Section 439 Cr.P.C.) has been moved for seeking bail in Case Crime No. 36 of 2020 under Sections 147, 148, 149, 34, 302 and 427 I.P.C., P.S. Maharajganj, District Azamgarh.
As per F.I.R. which has been lodged by one Nagendra Dubey who is present pradhan of the village; co-accused Sacchidanand Mishra had election animosity with him and on earlier several occasions, threats were given by the accused side to the complainant side; with the aid of police, informant side could escape unhurt and because of the animosity, on 4.03.2020 at about 12 noon, when passage was being constructed, the applicant along with other co-accused named in the F.I.R. are said to have come armed with iron-rods, lathi-danda etc and had assaulted the deceased, Omkar Dubey, who is brother of the informant.
It has been argued on behalf of the learned counsel for the accused applicant that accused applicant has been falsely implicated in this case; in post-mortem report as many as seven injuries are shown to have been sustained by the deceased which are by and large contusions on various parts of the body and injury no. 1 was sustained in occipito-parietal region and cause of death has been recorded as shock and hemorrhage as a result of head fracture and ante-mortem injuries. It is argued that in statements given by the informant and witness, Pramod Mishra, copy of which are annexed at page nos. 53 of paper book and page no. 7 of Supplementary-Affidavit respectively, general role has been assigned to all the co-accused to have assaulted the deceased by lathi-danda etc but another witness, Balwant Yadav distinguished the role of one co-accused, Baldhar Yadav and assigned him the role of assaulting by iron rod upon the head of the deceased by which he fell down. It is the head injury which resulted in death of the deceased and same is assigned to co-accused Baldhar Yadav. Co-accused, Ram Charan and Dasai have been granted bail by this very Court on 7.10.2020 in Crl. Misc. Bail Application Nos. 28691 of 2020 and 28714 of 2020. There are 19 accused implicated in this case and injuries are far less in numbers; the accused applicant is in jail since 14.03.2020; if the accused is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail.
Learned A.G.A. has opposed the bail and has argued that death of the deceased is a result of cumulative effect of all the injuries; this is a mob-lynching case; large number of accused have been implicated in this case and general role has been assigned to all.
Looking to the quantum of the punishment, nature of the offence, claim of parity and period of detention in jail, without expressing any opinion on the merits, this case is found to be a fit case for bail.
Let the applicant, Audhesh Shukla involved in aforesaid crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned with the following conditions that :-
1. The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence by intimidating/ pressurizing the witnesses, during the investigation or trial.
2. The applicant shall cooperate in the trial sincerely without seeking any adjournment.
3. The applicant shall not indulge in any criminal activity or commission of any crime after being released on bail.
In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail.
Identity, status and residence proof of the applicant and sureties be verified by the court concerned before the bonds are accepted.
Taking into consideration that Covid-19 is continuing and due to which certified copy would not be possible to be obtained by the applicant, therefore, if a copy of this order downloaded from the official website of Allahabad High Court and self attested by the counsel for the applicant is placed before the Court, the same would be entertained.
It is made clear that this case stands distinguished from the case of co-accused, Baldhar Yadav.
Order Date :- 12.10.2020 A. Mandhani