Criminal Misc. No. M-683 of 2011 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No. M-683 of 2011 Date of decision : 24.02.2011 Ram Bhagat @ Ajay Kumar ....Petitioner V/s State of Punjab ....Respondent BEFORE : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJAN GUPTA Present: Mr. G.S. Verma, Advocate for the petitioner. Ms. R.K. Nihalsinghwala, Addl. 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. 190 dated 01.08.2009 under Sections 363/366 IPC and Section 376 IPC added later on at Police Station Focal Point, District Ludhiana. Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that petitioner has been in custody since 11.01.2011 and the case is at the stage of recording prosecution evidence. He submits that complainant has already stepped into the witness box as a prosecution witness. According to learned counsel, trial is likely to take quite some time to conclude, thus, no useful purpose would be served by detaining the petitioner in custody any longer. Learned State counsel has opposed the prayer for bail on the ground that allegations against the petitioner are serious. She, however, Criminal Misc. No. M-683 of 2011 2 does not dispute the fact that trial of the case is in progress which may still take some time to conclude. Heard. 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 any longer. 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, Ludhiana. February 24, 2011 (RAJAN GUPTA) Ajay JUDGE