Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Shiv Kumar @ Shiva vs State Of Rajasthan (2025:Rj-Jd:15203) on 21 March, 2025
Author: Kuldeep Mathur
Bench: Kuldeep Mathur
[2025:RJ-JD:15203]
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
S.B. Criminal Miscellaneous Bail Application No. 11876/2024
Shiv Kumar @ Shiva S/o Rajesh @ Kalu, aged about 23 years,
R/o Ward No.6, Pirkamadya, Tehsil Tibbi, District Hanumangarh
(Raj) (Presently lodged in District Jail, Hanumangarh)
----Petitioner
Versus
State of Rajasthan, through PP.
----Respondent
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Jeetendra Singh Khichi
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Urja Ram Kalbi, PP
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KULDEEP MATHUR
Order 21/03/2025
1. The present application for bail under Section 483 BNSS (Section 439 Cr.P.C.) has been filed by the petitioner who has been arrested in connection with F.I.R. No.377/2022 registered at Police Station Tibbi, District Hanumangarh, for the offences under Sections 341, 323, 325, 302 and 34 of IPC.
2. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the material available on record.
3. The complainant- Madanlal lodged an FIR on 24.10.2022, stating therein that when he along with his son- Ashok Kumar was going to a shop for the purpose of purchasing the fire crackers whereupon suddenly, the accused persons namely Amit Kumar, Rahul and Rajesh @ Kalu launched an assault on his son and brutally beat him with sharp and blunt weapons. As per the complainant, at the time of alleged incident, the co-accused Amit (Downloaded on 24/03/2025 at 09:47:14 PM) [2025:RJ-JD:15203] (2 of 5) [CRLMB-11876/2024] Kumar was carrying a sharp weapon (Kasiya), whereas the petitioner and other co-accused persons namely Rahul and Rajesh @ Kalu were carrying blunt weapons (Lathis) and the said incident took place in a street. The son of the complainant - Ashok was taken to the hospital immediately after the incident had occurred where he died during the course of treatment.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the present case. Drawing attention of the Court towards the postmortem report of the deceased- Ashok, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per the postmortem report, on the date of alleged incident, the petitioner was caused a total of three injuries and he died mainly due to the injury No.1 caused upon his head. Drawing further attention of the Court towards the Parcha Bayan, the post-mortem report of the deceased as well as the statements of the various witnesses including the complainant- Madan (PW-2) and Sachin (PW-3) recorded during the course of trial, learned counsel for the petitioner contended that initially in the statements recorded in the parcha bayan of the eye-witness Madanlal, the specific allegation of causing a head injury upon the deceased with a (Kasiya) was levelled by Madan Lal against the co-accused Amit Kumar, however later on in his statements recorded during the course of trial as PW-2, he has retracted from his previous statements and levelled omnibus allegations against all the accused. Learned counsel further submitted that an exaggerated version of the incident which took place on 24.10.2022, has been put forth by the eye-witnesses as in the alleged incident, these (Downloaded on 24/03/2025 at 09:47:14 PM) [2025:RJ-JD:15203] (3 of 5) [CRLMB-11876/2024] witnesses have levelled omnibus allegations against the present petitioner and other co-accused persons of causing injuries upon the deceased by brutally beating him whereas only three injuries were found upon the body of the deceased during the post- mortem examination.
5. Learned counsel further submitted that though a blunt weapon (Lathi) has been recovered at the instance of the present petitioner but the same does not have any blood stains over it.
6. Learned counsel also submitted that the co-accused Rajesh @ Kalu (S.B. Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.3936/2023) has already been enlarged on bail by the co-ordinate Bench of this Court vide order dated 12.01.2024 and the case of the petitioner is not distinguishable from that of the co-accused Rajesh @ Kalu who has already been enlarged on bail.
7. Learned counsel further submitted that since in the present case, the statements of the eye- witnesses of the alleged incident namely Madan (PW-2) and Sachin (PW-3), have already been recorded before the competent Criminal Court; further incarceration of the petitioner would not be justifiable.
8. Lastly, learned counsel submitted that the petitioner is in judicial custody and the trial of the case will take sufficiently long time, therefore, the benefit of bail may be granted to the accused- petitioner.
9. Per contra, learned Public Prosecutor has vehemently opposed the bail application and submitted that in the present case, not only the presence of the petitioner at the place of occurrence has been established by the eye- witnesses of the (Downloaded on 24/03/2025 at 09:47:14 PM) [2025:RJ-JD:15203] (4 of 5) [CRLMB-11876/2024] alleged incident but a blunt weapon (Lathi) used in commission of the alleged incident has also been recovered at his instance. It was thus prayed that looking to the seriousness of the allegations levelled against the present petitioner, he does not deserve to be enlarged on bail. However, learned Public Prosecutor was not in a position to refute the fact that the co-accused Rajesh @ Kalu has already been enlarged on bail.
10. Having considered the rival submissions, facts and circumstances of the case; having perused challan papers as also the statements of the eye witnesses viz. Madan (PW-2) and Sachin (PW-3), this Court prima facie finds that omnibus allegations of brutally hitting the deceased with blunt/sharp weapons have been levelled against the present petitioner and the co-accused, however, only three injuries have been found upon the body of the deceased. This Court also prima facie finds that the eye-witnesses though in their statements recorded before the competent criminal Court as PW-2 and PW-3 have levelled omnibus allegations against the accused persons but in the parcha bayan of Madanlal, he had specifically mentioned that the fatal injury was caused to the deceased by the co-accused Amit Kumar.
11. This Court prima facie finds that the argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner that an exaggerated version of the incident which took place on 24.10.2022 has been put forth by the complainant cannot be brushed aside at this stage and whether the accused had any specific role to play in the aforesaid incident or whether the complicity of the accused can be sufficiently established in the present case, is for the learned trial Court to (Downloaded on 24/03/2025 at 09:47:14 PM) [2025:RJ-JD:15203] (5 of 5) [CRLMB-11876/2024] determine during the course of trial after taking into consideration all the statements of the material prosecution witnesses and the evidences produced before it.
12. This Court also prima facie finds that the petitioner is in judicial custody since 26.12.2022 and the prosecution has not shown any apprehension of petitioner influencing the other material witnesses of the case or fleeing away from justice, in case he is enlarged on bail. Thus, without expressing any opinion on merits/demerits of the case, this Court is inclined to enlarge the petitioner on bail.
10. Consequently, the present bail application under Section 483 BNSS (Section 439 Cr.P.C.) is allowed. It is ordered that the accused-petitioner Shiv Kumar @ Shiva S/o Rajesh @ Kalu arrested in connection with F.I.R. No.377/2022 registered at Police Station Tibbi, District Hanumangarh, shall be released on bail, if not wanted in any other case, provided he furnishes a personal bond of Rs.50,000/- and two sureties of Rs.25,000/- each, to the satisfaction of learned trial Court, for his appearance before that court on each & every date of hearing and whenever called upon to do so till completion of the trial.
11. It is however, made clear that findings recorded/observations made above are for limited purposes of adjudication of bail application. The trial court shall not get prejudiced by the same.
(KULDEEP MATHUR),J 5-Dinesh/-
(Downloaded on 24/03/2025 at 09:47:14 PM) Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)