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Himachal Pradesh High Court

Inder Kumar Verma vs . State Of Himachal Pradesh on 22 March, 2024

Inder Kumar Verma vs. State of Himachal Pradesh Cr. Appeal No.573 of 2023 .

22.03.2024 Present: Mr. N.S. Chandel, Senior Advocate with Mr. Vinod Kumar Gupta, Advocate, for the appellant.

Mr. Gautam Sood, Deputy Advocate General, for the respondent/ State.

The applicant/appellant has preferred the present appeal against the judgment of conviction dated 24.11.2023 and order of sentence dated 28.11.2023, whereby, applicant/appellant had been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for five years and fine of Rs.5,000/-, four years and fine of Rs.5,000/-, five years and fine of Rs.5,000/-, five years and fine of Rs.5,000, four years and fine of Rs.5,000/-, for commission of offences punishable under Sections 409, 466, 467, 471, 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code, respectively. In the order of sentence, it has been made clear that in default of payment of fine, the applicant/appellant was further directed to undergo simple imprisonment for one year. All the sentences, as per the order of sentence, were to run concurrently.

In the case at hand, FIR No.192/2007 under Sections 409, 466, 467, 471, 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code, had been registered on 20.04.2007. The proceedings in the trial Court were initiated on 19.11.2007. The same had ::: Downloaded on - 22/03/2024 20:39:40 :::CIS culminated on 24.02.2014, whereby, the present applicant/appellant had been acquitted. During investigation, .

the present applicant/appellant was arrested on 24.05.2007 and was released on bail on 28.05.2027. During trial, the applicant/appellant remained on bail. Other than the aforesaid, subsequent to his conviction by the First Appellate Court, the applicant/appellant is in custody since 24.11.2023 in Model Central Jail, Nahan.

Learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant/appellant, has drawn the attention of this Court to release order Ex.P-1 dated 03.11.2014. The allegation is that the aforesaid release order has been forged by the present applicant/appellant. The same is a typed document which bears the signature of the Presiding Officer. The signatures of learned Presiding Officer appended on Ex.P-1 alongwith handwriting and signatures of the applicant were got compared from Forensic Science Laboratory, Junga.

Report in this respect is Ex.P-X. As per the report, signatures of learned Presiding Officer found on Ex.P-1, have been opined to be not in the hand of the accused.

Once, the alleged forged document is not found to be signed by the present applicant/appellant, then there exists a fair chance of acquittal of the applicant/appellant with respect to charges framed under Sections 466, 467, 471, 468 of the ::: Downloaded on - 22/03/2024 20:39:40 :::CIS Indian Penal Code. Besides the aforesaid, one Madhya Devi appeared as PW-16 and stated that she had received .

money so released in terms of the release order Ex.P-1.

Once, money received by the applicant/appellant from the bank has been disbursed to the due recipient, i.e., Madhya Devi, it is evident that the applicant/appellant even has fair chance of acquittal for the charges framed under Section arguable points.

409 of the Indian Penal Code.

Besides the aforesaid, the applicant has raised further The appeal has already been admitted, hearing of which will take sufficient long time, for its disposal. As such, during the pendency of the present appeal, the operation of order of sentence dated 24.11.2023, is ordered to be suspended and the applicant/appellant, who is presently lodged at Model Central Jail, Nahan, District Sirmour, is ordered to be released on bail, subject to the following condition: -

That the applicant shall furnish personal bond in the sum of Rs. 50,000/-, alongwith one surety of the like amount, to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court, within a period of four weeks from today, with an undertaking that in the event of final dismissal of the revision petition, he will surrender before the learned trial Court to serve the remainder substantive sentence.

A copy of this order be sent to the learned trial Court, with the direction that the report of compliance of this order be submitted to this Court within a period of six weeks.

The Registry is directed to forward a soft copy of the bail order to the Superintendent of Model Central Jail, .

Nahan, District Sirmour through email, with a direction to enter the date of grant of bail in the e-prison software. In case, the applicant is not released within a period of seven days from the date of grant of bail, the Superintendent of Model Central Jail, Nahan, District Sirmour, is directed to inform this fact to the Secretary, DLSA, Shimla. The Superintendent of concerned Jail is further directed that if the applicant fails to furnish the bail bonds, as per the order passed by this Court, within a period of one month from today, then, the said fact be submitted to this Court.

The application is, thus, disposed of.

                                                ( Bipin C. Negi )





    March 22, 2024 (KS)                              Judge





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