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Himachal Pradesh High Court

Rakesh Kumar Sharma vs State Of Himachal Pradesh on 15 September, 2020

Author: Anoop Chitkara

Bench: Anoop Chitkara

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     IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH,
                     SHIMLA




                                                                          .
                               Cr.MP(M) No. 1599 of 2020





                               Date of Decision : 15th September, 2020





Rakesh Kumar Sharma
                                                       ...Petitioner.
                               Versus
State of Himachal Pradesh





                                                      ...Respondent.

Coram:
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Anoop Chitkara, Judge.

Whether approved for reporting?1 No.

For the petitioner     :      Mr. Hemant Kumar Thakur, Advocate.

For the respondent     :      Mr. Ashok Sharma, Advocate General with Mr. Ashwani K.



                              Sharma, Mr. Nand Lal Thakur, Addl. A.Gs. and Ms. Divya
                              Sood, Deputy Advocate General, for the State.




Anoop Chitkara, Judge (oral)

The petitioner, on being arraigned as accused for commission of offences punishable under Section 3 of the Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and Sections 341, 323, 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), in FIR No. 214 of 2020 dated 4.9.2020, registered in Police Station, Haroli, District Una, HP, has come up under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, seeking permission to surrender before this Court, and simultaneously seeking release on ad- interim bail. Given the propositions of law involved, instead of accepting surrender, the Court stayed the arrest subject to his joining the investigation in the interim.

2. The accused/petitioner is present in Court and has offered to surrender, which is accepted, and thus, is in deemed custody of the Court. I have also heard 1 Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?

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counsel for the parties. It remains undisputed that the petitioner had joined the investigation.

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3. The maximum sentence prescribed in the present FIR is seven years. Given the pronouncement of Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273, the Court is granting bail to the petitioner, subject to the imposition of following conditions, which shall be over and above, and irrespective of the contents of the form of bail bonds in chapter XXXIII of CrPC. Consequently, the present petition is allowed. The petitioner shall be released on bail in the present case, connected with the FIR mentioned above, on his furnishing a personal bond of INR 5,000/, (INR Five thousand only) to the satisfaction of the Registrar (Judicial) or any Officer authorized by him, or by Additional Registrar (Judicial) of this Court, during the course of the day. The furnishing of bail bonds shall be deemed acceptance of all stipulations, terms, and conditions of this bail order:

(i) The Attesting Officer shall mention on the reverse page of personal bonds, the permanent address of the petitioner along with the phone number(s), WhatsApp number (if any), email (if any), and details of personal bank account(s) (if available). The petitioner shall intimate about the change of residential address and change of phone numbers, WhatsApp number, e-mail accounts, within thirty days from such modification, to the Ppolice Station of this FIR, and the concerned Court, if such stage arises.

(ii) The petitioner shall join investigation as and when called by the Investigating Officer or any superior officer.

(iii) The petitioner shall not influence, browbeat, pressurize, make any inducement, threat, or promise, directly or indirectly, to the witnesses, the Police officials, or any other person acquainted with the facts of the case, to dissuade them from disclosing such facts to the Police, or the Court, or to tamper with the evidence.

(iv) Once the trial begins, the petitioner shall not in any manner try to delay the trial. The petitioner undertakes to appear before the concerned Court, on the issuance of summons/warrants by such Court.

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The petitioner shall attend the trial on each date, unless exempted.

(v) There shall be a presumption of proper service to the petitioner about the date of hearing in the concerned Court, even if it takes place .

through SMS/ WhatsApp message/ E-Mail/ or any other similar medium, by the Court.

(vi) In case of Non-appearance, then irrespective of the contents of the bail bonds, the petitioner undertakes to pay all the expenditure (only the principal amount without interest), that the State might incur to produce him before such Court, provided such amount exceeds the amount recoverable after forfeiture of the bail bonds, and also subject to the provisions of Sections 446 & 446-A of CrPC. The petitioner's failure to reimburse the State shall entitle the trial Court to order the transfer of money from the bank account(s) of the petitioner. However, this recovery is subject to the condition that the expenditure incurred must be spent to trace the petitioner and it relates to the exercise undertaken solely to arrest the petitioner in that FIR, and during that voyage, the Police had not gone for any other purpose/function what so ever.

(vii) The petitioner shall abstain from all similar activities. If done, then while considering bail in the fresh FIR, the Court shall take into account that even earlier, the Court had cautioned the accused not to do so.

(viii) This bail order shall ipso facto vacate if the accused attempts to browbeat the victim or repeats the offence.

(ix) In case of violation of any of the conditions as stipulated in this order, the State/Public Prosecutor may apply for cancellation of bail of the petitioner. Otherwise, the bail bonds shall continue to remain in force throughout the trial.

4. The Officer, in whose presence the petitioner puts signatures on personal bonds, shall explain all conditions of this bail order to the petitioner, in vernacular and if not feasible, in Hindi or English.

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5. In case, the petitioner finds the bail condition(s) as violating fundamental, human, or other rights, or causing difficulty due to any situation, then for modification of such term(s), the petitioner may file a reasoned application before this Court, and .

after taking cognizance, even before the Court taking cognizance or the trial Court, as the case may be. Such Court shall also be competent to modify or delete any condition.

6. This order does not, in any manner, limit or restrict the rights of the Police or the investigating agency from further investigation as per law.

7. The present bail order is only for the FIR mentioned above. It shall not be a blanket order of bail in any other case(s) registered against the petitioner.

8. Any observation made hereinabove is neither an expression of opinion on the merits of the case, nor shall the trial Court advert to these comments.

9. The SHO of the concerned Police Station or the Investigating Officer shall send a downloaded copy of this order, preferably a soft copy, to the victim, at the earliest.

10. In return for the protection from incarceration for breaking the law, the Court believes that the accused shall also reciprocate through desirable behavior.

The petition stands allowed in the terms mentioned above. All pending applications, if any, stand closed.

(Anoop Chitkara), Judge.

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