Crl. Misc. No. M-35340 of 2011 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Crl. Misc. No. M-35340 of 2011 Date of Decision: November 23, 2011 Sharanjit Singh …..Petitioner Vs. State of Punjab …..Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M.S. BEDI. -.- Present:- Mr. Sandeep Arora, Advocate for the petitioner. -.- M.M.S. BEDI, J. (ORAL) The petitioner is an ex-Sarpanch of the Village and had allegedly received a sum of Rs.2.70 lacs from complainant to send his son abroad. The petitioner somehow was able to get a report of his innocence as such his name was kept in column No.2. In the year 2007, he was summoned as an additional accused under Section 319 Cr.P.C. by the trial Court. He was able to evade his appearance for a period of 4 years and was ultimately declared a proclaimed offender. Crl. Misc. No. M-35340 of 2011 [2] Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that a compromise has been arrived at between the petitioner and the complainant. Copy of the panchayati compromise has been placed on record as annexure P-3. Petitioner claims that he is ready to face trial and that he has been wrongly declared a proclaimed offender as he has never been served of any notice or proclamation. It is claimed that he has already compensated the claimant. I have heard counsel for the petitioner and carefully gone through facts and circumstances of the case. The terms of the compromise annexure P-3 have been carefully perused by me. The said compromise merely appears to be a camouflage. After having misused the money of old complainant aged about 80 years, it is unbelievable that the petitioner though once held the post of Sarpanch of the Village was not either aware of the proceedings against him or he was not served with any notice. It is patently a case where the petitioner on account of his status has been bale to hoodwink the process of the Court and evade his appearance for a long period. On account of the act of the petitioner, the trial of a case of the year 2005 has not been concluded as yet. No extraordinary exceptional circumstances exists to grant the concession of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner. Dismissed. In case the petitioner surrenders before the trial Court within a period of 10 days on the receipt of certified copy of this order and moves and application for regular bail the said application will be decided within a period of five days. Anything said in this order will not prejudice the rights Crl. Misc. No. M-35340 of 2011 [3] of the petitioner to seek the concession of regular bail. In case the petitioner is able to satisfy the trial Court the reasons for non-appearance and the matter having been amicably settled on payment of a sum of Rs.3.50 lacs to the complainant, it will be open to the trial Court to grant the concession of regular bail within the abovesaid period. November 23, 2011 (M.M.S.BEDI) sanjay JUDGE