Allahabad High Court

Raj Kumar @ Raju vs State Of U.P. on 13 August, 2025

Author:
Krishan Pahal

Bench:
Krishan Pahal

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD

?Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:138574

Court No. - 65

Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 30138 of 2023

Applicant :- Raj Kumar @ Raju

Opposite Party :- State of U.P.

Counsel for Applicant :- Anubhav Kumar Vimal,Irshad Saleem,Km. Surabhi,Pradeep Kumar,Rakesh Kumar Singh

Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.

Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J.

1. List has been revised.

2. Heard Sri Irshad Saleem, learned counsel for the applicant and Sri Sushil Kumar Shukla, learned State Law Officer and perused the record.

3. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No. 03 of 2023, under
Sections 498A
,
304B
of I.P.C. and
Section 3
/
of D.P. Act, Police Station Nagina Dehat, District Bijnor, during the pendency of trial.

4. As per prosecution story, marriage of the applicant was solemnized with the deceased person as per Hindu Rites about 11 months before the said incident and it was a love marriage but subsequent to it, applicant is stated to have subjected the deceased to cruelty for demand of dowry and thereby led her to death on 02.01.2023.

5. Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the applicant is innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case. He has nothing to do with the said offence as alleged in the FIR.

6. Learned counsel has further stated that it is a clear cut case of false implication. The police was informed by the brother of the informant and the Head Constable 269 Brijendra reached there and it has come up in his statement that the door of the room of the deceased person was found locked from inside and it was broken open and the dead body was retrieved suspended to the ceiling fan, as such it is a clear cut case of false implication.

7. Learned counsel has next stated that the deceased has committed suicide out of depression. The cause of death has been found to be asphyxia as a result of ante mortem hanging, as such the applicant is entitled for bail.

8. The applicant is languishing in jail since 03.01.2023 having no criminal history to his credit. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail and shall cooperate with trial.

9. Per contra, learned State Law Officer has vehemently opposed the bail application on the ground that the FIR is prompt as it was instituted on the date of occurrence. The deceased has expired within the precincts of the house of the applicant.

10. This Court had called for a report regarding the status of trial and in compliance thereof, a report has been submitted by the Trial Court concerned dated 02.08.2025. As per the said report, two prosecution witnesses have been examined to date.

11. The Supreme Court in case of
X vs. State of Rajasthan & Anr.
reported in 2024 INSC 909, has held that once the trial has commenced, it should be allowed to reach to its final conclusion, which may either result in conviction or acquittal of the accused. The bail should not be normally granted to the accused after the charge has been framed. It should also not be granted by looking into the discrepancies here or there in the deposition.

12. The Supreme Court in
Ram Govind Upadhyay Vs Sudarshan Singh
(2002) 3 SCC 598 and Neeru Yadav Vs State of U.P. (2016) 15 SCC 422 has categorically opined that the power to grant bail under
Section 439
of CrPC, is of wide amplitude. The court is bestowed with considerable but not unfettered discretion, which calls for exercise in a judicious manner and not as a matter of course and not in whimsical manner.

13.
In
Gurcharan Singh v. State (Delhi Administration
), (1978) 1 SCC 118, it was held by the Supreme Court that the considerations in granting bail are the nature and gravity of the circumstances in which the offence is committed; the position and the status of the accused with reference to the victim and the witnesses; the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice; of repeating the offence; of jeopardising his own life being faced with a grim prospect of possible conviction in the case; of tampering with witnesses; the history of the case as well as of its investigation and other relevant grounds which, in view of so many valuable factors, cannot be exhaustively set out.

14. In State of U.P. v. Amarmani Tripathi (2005) 8 SCC 21, it was opined by the Supreme Court that there is no strait jacket formula which can ever be prescribed as to what the relevant factors could be. However, certain important factors that are always considered, inter-alia, relate to prima facie involvement of the accused, nature and gravity of the charge, severity of the punishment, and the character, position and standing of the accused.

15.
In
Prahlad Singh Bhati vs. NCT of Delhi and Ors
(2001) 4 SCC 280, the Supreme Court was of the opinion that it has to be kept in mind that for the purposes of granting the bail the Legislature has used the words "reasonable grounds for believing" instead of "the evidence" which means the court dealing with the grant of bail can only satisfy it as to whether there is a genuine case against the accused and that the prosecution will be able to produce prima facie evidence in support of the charge.

16.
In
Mahipal v. Rajesh Kumar
, (2020) 2 SCC 118 and Ms. Y versus State of Rajasthan and Anr 2022 SCC OnLine SC 458, it was laid down by the Supreme Court that it is a fundamental premise of open justice, to which our judicial system is committed, that factors which have weighed in the mind of the Judge in the rejection or the grant of bail are recorded in the order passed. Open justice is premised on the notion that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. The duty of Judges to give reasoned decisions lies at the heart of this commitment.

17.
In
Manno Lal Jaiswal vs. The State of U.P. and Others
2022 SCC OnLine SC 89, the Supreme Court has observed "when the Accused were charged for the offences punishable under
Section 149
of the Indian Penal Code also and when their presence has been established and it is stated that they were part of the unlawful assembly, the individual role and/or overt act by the individual Accused is not significant and/or relevant."

18.
In
Manoj Kumar Khokhar Vs. State of Rajasthan
(2022) 3 SCC 501, it was made clear that the Court deciding a bail application cannot completely divorce its decision from material aspects of the case such as the allegations made against the accused; severity of the punishment if the allegations are proved beyond reasonable doubt and would result in a conviction; reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being influenced by the accused; tampering of the evidence; the frivolity in the case of the prosecution; criminal antecedents of the accused; and a prima facie satisfaction of the Court in support of the charge against the accused.

The same view has been vent in
Prasanta Kumar Sarkar vs. Ashis Chatterjee and Anr
(2010)14 SCC 496;
Ishwarji Mali vs. State of Gujarat and another
, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 55;
Mahipal vs. Rajesh Kumar
, (2020) 2 SCC 118;
Manno Lal Jaiswal vs. The State of U.P. and others
, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 89;
Ms. Y vs. State of Rajasthan and Anr
2022 SCC OnLine SC 458;and
Deepak Yadav vs. State of U.P. and Anr.
(2022)8 SCC 559.

19. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions advanced by learned counsel for the parties, the aforesaid judgement of Supreme Court and also considering the fact that the FIR is prompt and the deceased has expired within the precincts of the house of the applicant, I do not find it a fit case to release the applicant on bail.

20. The bail application is, accordingly, rejected.

21. However, it is directed that the aforesaid case pending before the trial court be decided expeditiously, in view of the principle
laid down in
the recent judgements of the Supreme Court in the cases of
Vinod Kumar vs. State of Punjab
2015 (3) SCC 220 and Hussain and Another vs. Union of India (2017) 5 SCC 702, if there is no legal impediment.

22. It is clarified that the observations made herein are limited to the facts brought in by the parties pertaining to the disposal of bail application and the said observations shall have no bearing on the merits of the case during trial.

Order Date :- 13.8.2025

Sumit S

(Justice Krishan Pahal)