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TMI Blog2019 (12) TMI 1461X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l subject to certain conditions therein. The original complainant is in appeal before this Court. 3. By similar orders, the learned Single Judge granted bail to the other four Accused - Anil Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Vikas Kumar and Vijay Kumar. The appeals filed by the Appellant against those orders have been tagged with the present appeal. Since the facts in all these matters and the questions involved are similar, they have been heard together and are being disposed of by this common judgment. For the sake of convenience, the facts in SLP (Crl.) No. 6339 of 2019 are discussed. 4. A First Information Report FIR No. 347/2018 was lodged by the Appellant on 3 December 2018 stating that his now deceased nephew - Akhilesh had visited town on leave for a month for his marriage. It was stated that at about 7.00 pm on 2 December 2018, the deceased and his friend Aashish left the matrimonial home to run an errand. At about 7.30 pm, the deceased and Aashish stopped their bike on the road which caused a quarrel with two Accused persons - Vijay and Anil, who then hurled abuses at the deceased. At that time, five to six boys armed with dandas assaulted the deceased who was rescued by near-by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere inflicted within six hours of death; and (v) The phone of the deceased was recovered from one of the Accused Anil, while the bike involved in the incident was recovered from the first Respondent. 8. The second Respondent - the State of Rajasthan has filed a counter-affidavit assailing the order of the High Court on grounds similar to those urged by the Appellant. It was also stated that another FIR FIR No. 52/2019 had been registered against the friends of the Accused alleging an intention to kill the friend of the deceased - Ashish. 9. On the other hand, the learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the first Respondent contended that: (i) On the date of the incident, there was an altercation between the deceased and the first Respondent, in which the deceased was the aggressor. Thereafter, the deceased fell off his bike and suffered injuries which caused his eventual death; (ii) The first Respondent has been in custody for five months on the basis of a false allegation in the FIR; (iii) Even on a reading of the allegations in the FIR and the charge sheet, no prime facie case has been made out against the Accused justifying the setting aside of bail; and (iv) Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ays to be a prima facie satisfaction of the court in support of the charge. (d) Frivolity in prosecution should always be considered and it is only the element of genuineness that shall have to be considered in the matter of grant of bail, and in the event of there being some doubt as to the genuineness of the prosecution, in the normal course of events, the Accused is entitled to an order of bail. 12. The determination of whether a case is fit for the grant of bail involves the balancing of numerous factors, among which the nature of the offence, the severity of the punishment and a prima facie view of the involvement of the Accused are important. No straight jacket formula exists for courts to assess an application for the grant or rejection of bail. At the stage of assessing whether a case is fit for the grant of bail, the court is not required to enter into a detailed analysis of the evidence on record to establish beyond reasonable doubt the commission of the crime by the Accused. That is a matter for trial. However, the Court is required to examine whether there is a prima facie or reasonable ground to believe that the Accused had committed the offence and on a balance of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der of the High Court granting bail. However, where the discretion of the High Court to grant bail has been exercised without the due application of mind or in contravention of the directions of this Court, such an order granting bail is liable to be set aside. The Court is required to factor, amongst other things, a prima facie view that the Accused had committed the offence, the nature and gravity of the offence and the likelihood of the Accused obstructing the proceedings of the trial in any manner or evading the course of justice. The provision for being released on bail draws an appropriate balance between public interest in the administration of justice and the protection of individual liberty pending adjudication of the case. However, the grant of bail is to be secured within the bounds of the law and in compliance with the conditions laid down by this Court. It is for this reason that a court must balance numerous factors that guide the exercise of the discretionary power to grant bail on a case by case basis. Inherent in this determination is whether, on an analysis of the record, it appears that there is a prima facie or reasonable cause to believe that the Accused had co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... delves into the justifiability and the soundness of the order passed by the Court... 16. Where a court considering an application for bail fails to consider relevant factors, an appellate court may justifiably set aside the order granting bail. An appellate court is thus required to consider whether the order granting bail suffers from a non-application of mind or is not borne out from a prima facie view of the evidence on record. It is thus necessary for this Court to assess whether, on the basis of the evidentiary record, there existed a prima facie or reasonable ground to believe that the Accused had committed the crime, also taking into account the seriousness of the crime and the severity of the punishment. The order of the High Court in the present case, in so far as it is relevant reads: 2. Counsel for the Petitioner submits that the Petitioner has been falsely implicated in this matter. Counsel further submits that, the deceased was driving his motorcycle, which got slipped on a sharp turn, due to which he received injuries on various parts of body including ante-mortem head injuries on account of which he died. Counsel further submits that the challan has already been p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tigations of the case were started by the Circle Officer, Smt. Mamta Saraswat, R.P.S. Circle, Jhunjhunu City. During investigation proceedings, Circle Officer Smt. Mamta Saraswat, R.P.S. Circle Jhunjhuna City conducted investigations of all the Accused persons arrested in the present case namely Vijay Kumar, Ajay Kumar alias Sheodan, Vikas Kumar, Anil Kumar alias Bhirriya and Rajesh Kumat alias Pauliya. Mobile of deceased was recovered from Accused Anil Kumar alias Bhirriya according to his disclosure memo Under Section 277 of the Evidence Act. Seizure memo of mobile was concluded and attached at the case file. Motorcycle used in the incident, according to the disclosure memo, was recovered from Accused Rajesh Kumar alias Pauliya. ... Thereafter, friends of Anil Kumar namely Ajay Kumar, Rajesh and Vikas, all the three came at the place of occurrence Garakhera Tiraha and immediately on coming there, they started giving beatings to deceased Akhilesh and Monu with lathies and thereafter, Anil Kumar and Vijay Kumar also started giving beatings to deceased Akhilesh and Monu. ... ...however, it has been mentioned that seven injuries have been caused at the head of the deceased. T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... liberty of individuals undergoing criminal prosecution as well as the interests of the criminal justice system in ensuring that those who commit crimes are not afforded the opportunity to obstruct justice. Judges are duty bound to explain the basis on which they have arrived at a conclusion. 24. In Kalyan Chandra Sarkar v. Rajesh Ranjan (2004) 7 SCC 528, a two judge Bench of this Court was required to assess the correctness of a decision of a High Court enlarging the Accused on bail. Justice Santosh Hegde, speaking for the Court, discussed the law on the grant of bail in non-bailable offences and held: 11. The law in regard to grant or refusal of bail is very well settled. The court granting bail should exercise its discretion in a judicious manner and not as a matter of course. Though at the stage of granting bail a detailed examination of evidence and elaborate documentation of the merit of the case need not be undertaken, there is a need to indicate in such orders reasons for prima facie concluding why bail was being granted particularly where the Accused is charged of having committed a serious offence. Any order devoid of such reasons would suffer from non-application of mi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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