Allahabad High Court

Alfaz @ Afraj vs State Of U.P. on 19 September, 2024

Author:
Krishan Pahal

Bench:
Krishan Pahal

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD

?Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:152766

Court No. - 68

Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 30277 of 2024

Applicant :- Alfaz @ Afraj

Opposite Party :- State of U.P.

Counsel for Applicant :- Rakesh Kumar Mishra

Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J.

1. Heard Sri Rakesh Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Sunil Kumar, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the material available on record.

2. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No. 114 of 2024, under
Sections 376
,
,
&
of I.P.C., Police Station - Shahjahanpur, District - Rampur, during the pendency of trial.

PROSECUTION STORY:

3. The applicant is stated to have barged into the house of the informant in the night of 31.05.2024 at about 11:00 PM and committed rape with her minor daughter aged about 17 years. On hearing her shrieks, the informant and her husband are stated to have reached there and, as such, the applicant had run away from the scene of occurrence.

4. The co-accused Mohd. Sameer is stated to have again come to the house of the informant and threatened them.

ARGUMENTS ON BEHALF OF APPLICANT:

5. The applicant has been falsely implicated in the present case due to ulterior motive. He has nothing to do with the said offence as alleged in the FIR.

6. The FIR is delayed by about 14 hours and there is no explanation of the said delay caused.

7. The victim is the consenting party as is but evident from the circumstances.

8. There is material contradictions in the statement of the victim and the FIR as in the FIR, it is mentioned that on hearing her shrieks, the informant i.e. her mother and her father reached the place of incident while in her statement recorded
u/s 164
Cr.P.C., the victim has stated that it was her brother, who reached the place of occurrence.

9. The medical report does not support the prosecution story.

10. Several other submissions have been made on behalf of the applicant to demonstrate the falsity of the allegations made against him. The circumstances which, as per counsel, led to the false implication of the applicant have also been touched upon at length.

11. The applicant is languishing in jail since 02.06.2024, having no criminal history to his credit, deserves to be released on bail. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail and shall cooperate with trial.

ARGUMENTS ON BEHALF OF STATE:

12. The bail application has been opposed but the submissions raised by the learned counsel for the applicant could not be disputed and also the fact that the applicant has no criminal history.

CONCLUSION:

13. The well-known principle of "Presumption of Innocence Unless Proven Guilty," gives rise to the concept of bail as a rule and imprisonment as an exception.

14. A person's right to life and liberty, guaranteed by
Article 21
of the Indian Constitution, cannot be taken away simply because the person is accused of committing an offence until the guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt.
Article 21
of the Indian Constitution states that no one's life or personal liberty may be taken away unless the procedure established by law is followed, and the procedure must be just and reasonable. The said principle has been reiterated by the Supreme Court in
Satender Kumar Antil Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and Ors.
, 2022 INSC 690.

15. Reiterating the aforesaid view, the Supreme Court in the case of
Manish Sisodia Vs. Directorate of Enforcement
, 2024 INSC 595, has again emphasized that the very well-settled principle of law that bail is not to be withheld as a punishment is not to be forgotten. It is high time that the Courts should recognize the principle that "bail is a rule and jail is an exception".

16. Learned AGA could not bring forth any exceptional circumstances which would warrant denial of bail to the applicant.

17. It is settled principle of law that the object of bail is to secure the attendance of the accused at the trial. No material particulars or circumstances suggestive of the applicant fleeing from justice or thwarting the course of justice or creating other troubles in the shape of repeating offences or intimidating witnesses and the like have been shown by learned AGA.

18. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, the evidence on record, pending trial and considering the complicity of accused, severity of punishment, at this stage, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Court is of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail. The bail application is allowed.

19. Let the applicant- Alfaz @ Afraj, who is involved in aforementioned case crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions. Further, before issuing the release order, the sureties be verified.

(i) The applicant shall not tamper with evidence.

(ii) The applicant shall remain present, in person, before the Trial Court on dates fixed for (1) opening of the case, (2) framing of charge and (3) recording of statement under
Section 313
Cr.P.C. If in the opinion of the Trial Court absence of the applicant is deliberate or without sufficient cause, then it shall be open for the Trial Court to treat such default as abuse of liberty of bail and proceed against him in accordance with law.

20. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail.

21. It is made clear that observations made in granting bail to the applicant shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses.

Order Date:- 19.9.2024

Siddhant

(Justice Krishan Pahal)