Abdul Azees vs State Of Kerala

Shircy V, J

The petitioner, who is arraigned as the 8th accused in Crime No. 1147 of 2021 of Wadakancherry Police Station registered for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 341, 323, 324, 308 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, has moved this application for his release on bail.

The petitioner has been in custody since 15.09.2021.

The prosecution allegation is that on 05.09.2021, the accused, due to their previous animosity towards the defacto complainant, formed themselves into an unlawful assembly with deadly weapon in prosecution of their common object, encircled the defacto complainant and attacked him with deadly weapons,. Accused Nos. 2 and 5 had dragged him out of the car driven by him and accused Nos. 4 and 6 had beaten him with stick. Accused No.8 had also stamped him and they together had attempted to commit culpable homicide and thereby committed the aforesaid offences.

According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, though ten accused have been arraigned in this case, except the petitioner, none have been arrested by the prosecution. But he has been in custody since 15.09.2021. In fact he has not committed any offence as alleged and moreover, the prosecution records would itself reveal that he was unarmed.

According to the learned Public Prosecutor, the investigation of the case is well in progress.

The records available before me would show that this petitioner was unarmed when the alleged incident has taken place. Of course, he is the person who has dragged the defacto complainant out of the car along with accused No.5. But now the investigation of the case is well in progress. He has no criminal antecedents also. The other accused involved in this case are yet to be arrested. But I do not find any materials on record  to  show  that  further  detention  of  this  petitioner  is absolutely necessary for the prosecution to proceed with the investigation. Moreover, as there is no allegation that he has used any weapon, there is nothing to be recovered at his instance. Considering all these facts, I am inclined to release him on bail.

Therefore, this application is allowed subject to the following conditions:

(i) The petitioner shall be released on bail on his executing a bond for a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty thousand only) with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the court having jurisdiction.

(ii) The petitioner shall appear before the Investigating Officer on every Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. for a period of one month.

(iii) The petitioner shall not directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.

(iv) The petitioner shall not commit any offence while on bail.

In case of violation of any of the above conditions, the jurisdictional court is empowered to cancel the bail in accordance with the law.