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2020 (5) TMI 706 - HC - Indian LawsSeeking grant of regular bail - case of applicant is that he has neither been named in the FIR nor is there any allegation in the FIR nor any other material collected during investigation, that would identify the applicant as one of the perpetrators of the offences alleged - HELD THAT:- Prison is primarily for punishing convicts; not for detaining undertrials in order to send any 'message' to society. The remit of the court is to dispense justice in accordance with law, not to send messages to society. It is this sentiment, whereby the State demands that undertrials be kept in prison inordinately without any purpose, that leads to overcrowding of jails; and leaves undertrials with the inevitable impression that they are being punished even before trial and therefore being treated unfairly by the system. If at the end of a protracted trial, the prosecution is unable to bring home guilt, the State cannot give back to the accused the years of valuable life lost in prison. On the other hand, an accused would of course be made to undergo his sentence after it has been awarded, after trial. This court also cannot but notice that the offences under section 147/148/149 IPC arise in the context of an 'unlawful assembly', which section 141 IPC defines as an assembly of 5 or more persons acting with unlawful purposes as defined in that provision; while in the present case only 2 persons appear to have been charged. Also, the offences under sections 147/148/149/427 IPC are in any case bailable offences; and only the offence under section 436 IPC is non-bailable; and there is no material to support that offence that can be said to be clinching or unquestionable, to say the least. While ordinarily this court would not have entered upon any discussion on the evidence at the stage of considering bail, however here is a case where a purported unlawful assembly of some 250-300 persons is alleged to have committed offences; of which the police have picked-up only two, one of them being the applicant. In this peculiar circumstance, this court was compelled to sift the evidence only prima-facie and limited to cursorily assessing how the police have identified the applicant from that large assembly of persons. This court is conscious that 'judicial custody' is the custody of the court; and the court will be loathe to depriving a person of his liberty, in the court's name, on the mere ipse-dixit of the State, when it finds no substantial basis or reason for doing so. Application disposed off.
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