Allahabad High Court
Asif Khan vs State Of U.P. And Another on 6 September, 2023
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:175804 Court No. - 73 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 1334 of 2023 Applicant :- Asif Khan Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Kameshwar Singh Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Nalin Kumar Srivastava,J.
1. Heard learned counsel for the applicant and learned A.G.A. for the State as well as perused the record.
2. The present anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant - Asif Khan in Case Crime No.1004 of 2018, registered under Sections 420, 465, 468, 470 and 471 IPC, Section 34 of Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, Section 3/7 of Essential Commodities Act and Section 66(d) of Information & Technology Act , Police Station- Kotwali Nagar, District Muzaffarnagar with a prayer to enlarge him on anticipatory bail.
3. Learned counsel for the applicant has stated that the applicant is the proprietor of the fair price shop and has nothing to do with the said offence. The allegations against him are that he is stated to have illegally conducted interpolation in the data base of card holders by using biometric machine and is stated to have usurped wheat and rice of public distribution system. There are no criminal antecedents of the applicant. Several other submissions have been made on behalf of the applicant to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against him. The circumstances which, as per counsel, led to the false implication of the applicant have also been touched upon at length. Learned counsel for the applicant undertakes that he has co-operated in the investigation and is ready to do so in trial also failing which the State can move appropriate application for cancellation of anticipatory bail.
4. Learned counsel for the applicant further submits that similarly placed co-accused persons namely, Smt. Brijesh Rani, Jaypal Singh, Ramavatar and Promod Kumar Gupta have already been granted anticipatory bail by this Court vide order dated 28.11.2022 in Criminal Misc. Anticipatory Bail Application u/s 438 Cr.P.C.No. 11913 of 2022 (Smt. Brijesh Rani and 3 others Vs. State of U.P.) and since the role of the applicant is identical to that of co-accused persons, the applicant is also entitled to be released on interim bail.
5. Per contra, learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the anticipatory bail application but unable to dispute the submissions raised by the learned counsel for the applicant.
6. Charge-sheet has been submitted in this matter as mentioned in para 13 of the affidavit.
7. On due consideration to the arguments advanced by learned counsel for the applicant as well as learned A.G.A. and considering the nature of accusations and antecedents of the applicant, the applicant is liable to be enlarged on anticipatory bail in view of the judgment of Supreme Court in the case of "Sushila Aggarwal Vs. State (NCT of Delhi), (2020) 5 SCC 1". The future contingencies regarding the anticipatory bail being granted to applicant shall also be taken care of as per the aforesaid judgment of the Apex Court.
8. In view of the above, the anticipatory bail application of the applicant is allowed till end of trial. In the event of arrest of the applicant, he shall be released on anticipatory bail on his furnishing a personal bond of Rs.50,000/- with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Court concerned with the following conditions:-
(i) The applicant shall make himself available before the Court concerned on the date fixed in the matter and will cooperate in the trial.
(ii) The applicant shall not directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police office.
(iii) The applicant shall not leave India without the previous permission of the Court and if he has passport, the same shall be deposited by him before the S.S.P./S.P. Concerned.
9. In case of default of any of the conditions, the same may be a ground for cancellation of protection granted to the applicant.
10. It is made clear that observations made hereinabove are exclusively for deciding the instant anticipatory bail application and shall not affect the trial or deciding the regular bail application.
Order Date :- 6.9.2023 Subham