Criminal Misc. No. M-20321 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No. M-20321 of 2010 Date of decision : 04.08.2010 Khushpal Singh @ Pali ....Petitioner V/s State of Punjab ....Respondent BEFORE : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. G.S. Lali, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Shailesh Gupta, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab. RAJAN GUPTA J. (ORAL) This is a petition filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail in a case registered against the petitioner vide FIR No. 58 dated 23.02.2010 under Sections 376, 366, 506 & 120-B IPC at Police Station Barnala. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner has been in custody since 27.02.2010 and investigation of the case has already been completed. He has pointed out that the complainant himself had stated that the petitioner had a love affair with his daughter, thus offence under Section 376 IPC is not made out. He submits that trial is likely to take long time to conclude, thus, no useful purpose would be served by detaining the petitioner in custody during the pendency of the trial. Learned State counsel has opposed the prayer for bail on the ground that allegations against the petitioner are serious in nature. He however, does not dispute the fact that investigation has been completed Criminal Misc. No. M-20321 of 2010 2 and challan has been presented before the competent court of jurisdiction. Keeping in view the aforesaid contentions, period of incarceration of the petitioner and the fact that trial may still take some time to conclude, I am of the considered view that no useful purpose would be served by detaining the petitioner in custody during the pendency of the trial. Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, I deem it appropriate to grant regular bail to the petitioner. Accordingly, the petition is allowed and petitioner is ordered to be enlarged on bail to the satisfaction of Chief Judicial Magistrate/Duty Magistrate, Barnala. August 04, 2010 (RAJAN GUPTA) Ajay JUDGE