Allahabad High Court
Basmati vs State Of U.P. And Another on 10 February, 2023
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 85 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC ANTICIPATORY BAIL APPLICATION U/S 438 CR.P.C. No. - 13552 of 2022 Applicant :- Basmati Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Applicant :- Ravindra Prakash Srivastava Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Surendra Prasad Yadav Hon'ble Mrs. Jyotsna Sharma,J.
01. Heard Sri J.P. Yadav holding brief of Sri Ravindra Prakash Srivastava, learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
02. The instant anticipatory bail application has been filed on behalf of the applicant-Basmati with a prayer to release her on bail in Case Crime No.46 of 2022, under Sections 498-A and 304-B I.P.C. and Section 3/4 Dowry Prohibition Act, P.S. Khesraha, District Siddharth Nagar.
03. As per prosecution case, the applicant who happens to be mother-in-law of the deceased and other members of family have been demanding Rs.2 lac as dowry and they strangulated Pooja Yadav to death for non-fulfillment of demand of dowry.
04. It is contended on behalf of the applicant that she is not named in the F.I.R. and that the allegations have been imputed against the husband of the deceased only; the present applicant has been living separately from the couple; her name has come to light in the statement given by other family members of the deceased; on the other hand, other independent witnesses belonging to the same village have deposed that present applicant had no role to play in the episode; the inquest on the dead body was conducted in presence of members of both the families.
05. Learned A.G.A. vehemently opposed the prayer for anticipatory bail contending that even information about death of the deceased was not given timely to the family members of the deceased. Therefore, name of the present applicant could not be mentioned in the F.I.R.
06. It may be stated that in case of Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre v. State of Maharashtra, (2011) 1 SCC 694, it has been held by Hon'ble Supreme Court that while deciding anticipatory bail, Court must consider nature and gravity of accusation, antecedent of accused, possibility of accused to flee from justice and that Court must evaluate entire available material against the accused carefully and that the exact role of the accused has also to be taken into consideration.
07. In the instant case, I considered submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, nature of accusation, role of applicant and all attending facts and circumstances of the case, a case for anticipatory bail is made out. Hence, the present anticipatory bail application is allowed.
08. Let the applicant Basmati involved in the aforesaid case crime number be released on anticipatory bail till submission of chargesheet on furnishing a personal bond with two sureties each of the same amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned, subject to the conditions as below:-
(i) that the applicant shall make herself available for interrogation by a police officer as and when required;
(ii) that 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 her from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence;
(iii) that the applicant shall not leave India without previous permission of the court;
(iv) that the applicant shall not tamper with the evidence during the trial;
(v) that the applicant shall not pressurize/ intimidate the prosecution witness;
(vi) that the applicant shall appear before the trial court on each date fixed unless personal presence is exempted.
09. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, the court below shall have the liberty to cancel the bail granted to the applicant.
10. It is made clear that observations made in granting anticipatory bail to the applicant shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion at any stage of the case based on material before him.
Order Date :- 10.2.2023 Asha