Allahabad High Court
Gajendra And Another vs State Of U.P. on 8 April, 2026
Author: Raj Beer Singh
Bench: Raj Beer Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
Neutral Citation No. - 2026:AHC:76111
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 3076 of 2026
Gajendra And Another
.....Appellant(s)
Versus
State of U.P.
.....Respondent(s)
Counsel for Appellant(s)
:
Ram Raj Pandey, Shubham Pandey
Counsel for Respondent(s)
:
G.A.
Court No. - 90
HON'BLE RAJ BEER SINGH, J.
1. This appeal has been preferred under Section 495 BNSS with following prayer:-
"It is therefore most respectfully prayed that this Hon'ble court may graciously be pleased to allow the appeal and set aside the order dated 2.8.2025 to 12.2.2026, passed by Learned Additional District & Session Judge / 4th Fast Track Court, Bulandshahar along-with quash the proceeding of Criminal Misc. No. 595 of 2025, under Section 446 Cr.P.C. ( State Vs Gajendra and others), Police Station Shikarpur, District Bulandshahar.
It is further prayed that this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to stay the order dated 2.8.2025 to 12.2.2026, passed by Learned Additional District & Session Judge/4th Fast Track Court, Bulandshahar along-with quash the proceeding of Criminal Misc. No. 595 of 2025, under Section 446 Cr.P.C. (State Vs Gajendra and others), Police Station Shikarpur, District Bulandshahar. And or pass such type of order or direction which this Hon'ble court may deem fit and proper on the basis of facts and circumstances of the case, Otherwise appellants shall suffer irreparable loss and injury."
2. The appeal is being decided finally at the stage of admission itself.
3. Heard learned counsel for the appellants and learned AGA for the State.
4. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that in Session Trial No.317 of 2023 (State Vs. Suhel and others) appellants have stood surety for accused Ahmad Sayeed and they have submitted surety bond to the tune of Rs.1,00,000/- each. During trial said accused Ahmad Sayeed did not appear before the trial Court, hence non-bailable warrants were issued against him and proceedings under Section 446 Cr.P.C. were initiated against the appellants/ sureties in pursuance of order dated 05.06.2025. Learned counsel submitted that meanwhile on 10.07.2025 the accused Ahmad Sayeed has surrendered before the trial Court and he was sent to jail and later he was granted bail but despite that the proceedings under Section 446 Cr.P.C. are being pursued against appellants. It was submitted that as the accused has already appeared before the trial Court, thus the impugned orders are liable to be quashed.
5. Learned AGA has opposed and submitted that there is no illegality or perversity in the impugned orders.
6. I have considered submissions and perused the record.
7. Before proceeding further, it would be relevant to peruse the provisions of Section - 446 and 446-A Cr.P.C., which read as under :- ''446. Procedure when bond has been forfeited.?(1) Where a bond under this Code is for appearance, or for production of property, before a Court and it is proved to the satisfaction of that Court, or of any Court to which the case has subsequently been transferred, that the bond has been forfeited, or where, in respect of any other bond under this Code, it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court by which the bond was taken, or of any Court to which the case has subsequently been transferred, or of the Court of any Magistrate of the first class, that the bond has been forfeited, the Court shall record the grounds of such proof, and may call upon any person bound by such bond to pay the penalty thereof or to show cause why it should not be paid. Explanation. A condition in a bond for appearance, or for production of property, before a Court shall be construed as including a condition for appearance, or as the case may be, for production of property, before any Court to which the case may subsequently be transferred. (2) If sufficient cause is not shown and the penalty is not paid, the Court may proceed to recover the same as if such penalty were a fine imposed by it under this Code: 1 [Provided that where such penalty is not paid and cannot be recovered in the manner aforesaid, the person so bound as surety shall be liable, by order of the Court ordering the recovery of the penalty, to imprisonment in civil jail for a term which may extend to six months.] (3) The Court may, 2[after recording its reasons for doing so], remit any portion of the penalty mentioned and enforce payment in part only. (4) Where a surety to a bond dies before the bond is forfeited, his estate shall be discharged from all liability in respect of the bond. (5) Where any person who has furnished security under section 106 or section 117 or section 360 is convicted of an offence the commission of which constitutes a breach of the conditions of his bond, or of a bond executed in lieu of his bond under section 448, a certified copy of the judgment of the Court by which he was convicted of such offence may be used as evidence in proceedings under this section against his surety or sureties, and, if such certified copy is so used, the Court shall presume that such offence was committed by him unless the contrary is proved." "446A. Cancellation of bond and bail bond- Without prejudice to the provisions of section 446, where a bond under this Code is for appearance of a person in a case and it is forfeited for breach of a condition, (a) the bond executed by such person as well as the bond, if any, executed by one or more of his sureties in that case shall stand cancelled; and (b) thereafter no such person shall be released only on his own bond in that case, if the Police Officer or the Court, as the case may be, for appearance before whom the bond was executed, is satisfied that there was no sufficient cause for the failure of the person bound by the bond to comply with its condition: Provided that subject to any other provisions of this Code he may be released in that case upon the execution of a fresh personal bond for such sum of money and bond by one or more of such sureties as the Police Officer or the Court, as the case may be, thinks sufficient.''
8. Essentially Section - 446 Cr.P.C. (section 491 in BNSS) deals with sureties for breach of bond by the accused, whereas, Section - 446-A Cr.P.C. (section 492 in BNSS) deals with the consequences to be faced by accused upon forfeiture of bond (personal bond). So far surety of accused is concerned a separate notice is required to be given to the sureties to show cause as to why penalty should not be paid by them and only if they are not able to show cause, the Court can proceed to recover the penalty as if it were a fine imposed under the CrPC. Thus, for taking action under section 446 CrPC, notice should be issued to the sureties and it should be proved in a separate proceedings that the accused had violated the bail bond for the sureties to make good the bond amount.
9. In the instant matter, it appears that appellants have stood surety for accused Ahmad Sayeed in the aforesaid case. During trial said accused Ahmad Sayeed has not appeared before the trial Court on some dates, due to which non-bailable warrants were issued against him and the proceedings under Section 446 Cr.P.C. were initiated against appellants-sureties. It was shown that the impugned proceedings under Section 446 Cr.P.C. were initiated vide order dated 02.08.2025, whereas accused Ahmad Sayeed has already surrendered before the trial Court on 10.07.2025 and he was sent to jail and later he was granted bail. In view of these facts and circumstance, the matter regarding forfeiture of bail bonds and recovery of bail bond amount has to be considered leniently. As per provisions of Section 446(3) Cr.P.C./ 491(3) BNSS, the Court may remit any portion of penalty to be imposed in pursuance of forfeiture of bail bonds. As the accused has already surrendered before the trial Court and he has been granted bail thus ends of justice would met if the amount of penalty, imposed by the trial Court in pursuance to forfeiture of bail bonds, be reduced from Rs.1,00,000/- to Rs.5000/- towards the appellants / sureties.
10. Accordingly, it is directed that the appellants / sureties shall deposit an amount of Rs 5000/- each in the proceedings of forfeiture of their bail bonds. The impugned orders stand altered to this extent. The appellants are directed to deposit the said amount within a period of two months from today. It is further directed that for a period of two months from today, no coercive action shall be taken against appellants/ sureties. On deposition of said amount, the proceedings of aforesaid miscellaneous case under section 446 CrPC would stand disposed of. In case the said amount of Rs 5000/- is not deposited by each of the appellant / surety, the impugned order and proceedings shall remain effective.
11. The appeal is disposed of in above terms.
(Raj Beer Singh,J.) April 8, 2026 'SP'/-