Punjab-Haryana High Court
Jaswinder Pal Singh And Another vs State Of Punjab on 18 July, 2014
Author: T.P.S.Mann
Bench: T.P.S.Mann
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
Criminal Misc. No.M-15957 of 2014
Date of Decision : July 18, 2014
Jaswinder Pal Singh and another
.....Petitioners
VERSUS
State of Punjab
.....Respondent
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.P.S.MANN
Present : Mr. Veneet Sharma, Advocate
for the petitioners.
Mr. Navdeep Singh, Assistant A.G., Punjab.
T.P.S. MANN, J. (Oral)
Prayer made in the petition is for grant of regular bail to the petitioners during the pendency of the trial of the case emanating from FIR No.81 dated 26.2.2012 under Sections 302, 304-A and 34 IPC registered at Police Station Sadar (Cantonment), Amritsar City.
As per the prosecution, one Sandeep Singh @ Bittu was facing trial in FIR No.379 dated 13.9.2007 under Section 25 of the Arms Act registered at Police Station Sadar, District Amritsar, in which he absented himself from the Court. On 9.9.2009, he was arrested from his house by the police officials and produced in the Court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar on the same day and remanded in judicial custody till 23.9.2009. Accordingly, he was first kept in the Criminal Misc. No.M-15957 of 2014 -2- Bakshi Khanna and then transported to the jail. However, soon after entering the jail premises, he became ill and was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead. As the death of Sandeep Singh @ Bittu had taken place while in custody, an enquiry was conducted by Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Amritsar, who vide his report dated 25.1.2010 held the jail officials responsible for causing the death of Sandeep Singh @ Bittu by administering organo phosphorous compound to him. At the time when aforementioned Sandeep Singh @ Bittu was brought to the jail, Jaswinder Pal Singh-petitioner was the Head Warden while Baljit Singh-petitioner was Warden. Though none of the petitioners was arraigned as accused at the time of registration of the FIR yet during the investigation, it surfaced that the petitioners, who were Head Warden and Warden of the jail, were involved in the death of Sandeep Singh @ Bittu. At the conclusion of the investigation, Incharge, Police Station converted the offence from Section 302 IPC to Section 304-A IPC. The petitioners were formally arrested and released on bail, the offence under Section 304-A IPC being bailable. Subsequent to the presentation of the report under Section 173 Cr.P.C., the learned Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Amritsar, after holding the petitioners prima facie liable for committing Criminal Misc. No.M-15957 of 2014 -3- offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, committed the case to the Court of Sessions for 15.3.2014. The case was, thereafter, taken up for consideration of charge on 25.3.2014, when after perusing the record, Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar held that prima facie the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC was made out against the petitioner. Accordingly, they were charged to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. However, as they had been granted bail only under Section 304-A IPC and not under Section 302 IPC, they were taken into custody on that day itself and ever since then they are behind the bars.
Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that during the detailed judicial enquiry, no material was produced to show that the petitioners had any hand in the death of Sandeep Singh @ Bittu. More over, during the investigation, the police held the petitioners liable for committing an offence under Section 304-A IPC and, accordingly, they were formally arrested and released on bail. Subsequent to the presentation of the challan, learned Judicial Magistrate committed the case to the Court of Sessions as it was prima facie held that the petitioners had committed the offence under Section 302 IPC and not under Section 304-A IPC and, accordingly, the case was committed and vide order dated 25.3.2014, learned Additional Sessions Judge charged them for the offences Criminal Misc. No.M-15957 of 2014 -4- under Sections 302/34 IPC. As they had not been granted the concession of bail for the said offence, they were taken into custody. The trial of the case is likely to take a long time. No useful purpose will be served by keeping the petitioners behind the bars and, therefore, they be granted the concession of bail.
Learned State counsel has vehemently opposed the prayer made on behalf of the petitioners by submitting that they were responsible for administering organo phosphorous compound to Sandeep Singh @ Bittu and, thus, liable for causing his death. He, however, states that out of the 19 witnesses cited by the prosecution, 6 have already been examined and now the next date fixed before the trial Court is 23.7.2014.
Without commenting on the merits, lest it may prejudice the case of either party, this Court is of the considered view that the petitioners deserve the concession of bail.
Resultantly, the petition is accepted. Bail to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar.
( T.P.S. MANN ) Satish Kumar 2014.07.19 11:10 July 18, 2014 I attest to the accuracy and JUDGE integrity of this document Chandigarh