Meena Devi vs State of Gujarat

Abhilasha Kumari, J.—The present application has been filed u/s 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for grant of bail, in connection with FIR being C.R. No. I-18 of 2009, registered with Vapi Udyognagar Police Station, Vapi Town, for offences punishable under Sections 406, 420, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471, 474, 484, 485, 120B and 114 of the Indian Penal Code. It may be noted that this is the third successive bail application filed by the applicant. The first bail application, being Criminal Misc. Application No. 94 54 of 2 009 was rejected by a reasoned judgment dated 09.10.2009. Thereafter, the applicant filed a second successive bail application, being Criminal Misc. Application No. 14628 of 2009. That application also came to be rejected by a reasoned judgment dated 04.02.2010. The applicant has now approached this Court for the third time, by way of the present application, for grant of bail.

For the sake of clarity, a brief factual background of the case of the prosecution may be necessary. Five accused persons are allegedly involved in the commission of the alleged offences. The applicant, who is accused No. 2, is the wife of accused No. 1. It is the case of the prosecution that the applicant and other co-accused persons are involved in hatching a conspiracy and executing the same as a result of which the complainant was induced to part with a huge sum of money in cash, by Cheques and Demand Drafts. A substantial part of this money ultimately came to be deposited in the bank account of accused No. 1, who transferred it to the bank account of the applicant. The applicant operated the said bank account, and several movable and immovable properties entailing large sums of money, were purchased therefrom in her name. The case of the prosecution further is that accused No. 1, husband of applicant, in collusion with accused No. 5, who was the General Manager of Dena Bank, Vapi Branch at the relevant period of time, hatched a conspiracy, assuring the complainant and two others that Dena Bank had charge over certain properties which are to be auctioned by an order of the High Court of Gujarat. The investigation revealed that the said order of the High Court is a forged and fabricated one. Not only is the order forged, but that the signature of the Hon''ble Judge, who is purported to have passed the said order, as well as that of the Assistant Registrar of the High Court, are also alleged to have been forged. On the basis of the above order, the complainant and two others were assured by the accused persons that they would be given charge of the property, after making payment. On the said assurance, the complainant was made to part with an amount of Rs. 8,73,40,000/- in cash, Demand Drafts and Cheques, which were deposited in the account of accused No. 1, in the name of R.K. Engineering, at Dena Bank, Vapi. The allegation against the accused persons, including the applicant, further is that from the account of accused No. 1, huge amounts were transferred to the account of the applicant and several movable and immovable properties were purchased in the name of the applicant. It is, therefore, alleged that in this manner and method the applicant is involved in the commission of the above-mentioned offences.

After hearing learned counsel for the applicant and learned Additional Public Prosecutor at length and recording their submissions in Criminal Misc. Application No. 9454 of 2009, this Court rejected the first bail application preferred by the applicant vide judgment dated 09.10.2009, for the following reasons:

This Court has heard the learned counsel for the respective parties, perused the averments made in the application, contents of the FIR and other material on record, including the papers of the charge sheet. From a perusal thereof, the following aspects emerge for consideration:

(1) The case of the prosecution is that the accused persons have conspired and colluded with each other by giving false assurances to the complainant and two other persons and have managed to extract an amount of rupees eight crores and odd from them, on the pretext that Dena Bank has a charge of certain properties which were to be auctioned under an order purportedly made by the High Court of Gujarat, which is allegedly false, forged and fabricated by the accused persons.

(2) It is the case of the prosecution that in the said order, not only has the signature of the Assistant Registrar been forged but also that of the Honourable Judge and the parties'' names have also been changed in order to add the accused persons, and even the stationery of the High Court has been duplicated, in furtherance of the conspiracy.

(3) It further emerges from the record that the allegations against the accused persons are that the complainant and two other persons have been given false assurances on the basis of which they have paid over rupees eight crores at different intervals in cash, by Demand Drafts and by cheques. Some amounts paid by Demand Draft and cash are stated to have found their way into the accounts of accused No. 1 out of which huge sums have been transferred to the account of the applicant, who is the wife of the accused No. 1.

(4) Several properties worth huge sums of money have been purchased in the name of the applicant from funds withdrawn from her account. The applicant is a sole operator of her accounts and has signed the cheques towards the said transactions. The sale-deeds in regard to the property purchased by the applicant are alleged to have been signed by the applicant herself.

(5) The applicant has been apprehended while traveling in a car with accused Nos. 1 and 3 from which fabricated seals of Dena Bank and several other incriminating articles have been recovered.

Taking into consideration the above aspects which emerge from the material on record, in the view of this Court, prima-facie, the involvement of the applicant in the commission of the alleged offences is indicated. The submission advanced by the learned counsel for the applicant that the applicant is a lady, who has been married for thirty years and has six children and is in custody with effect from 13.03.2009, will not mitigate the gravity of the offences alleged against the applicant in view of the material on record which points out to her prima-facie involvement in the same. The period of incarceration or the fact that the applicant is a lady, pales into insignificance in the face of the nature of conspiracy, as in the present case. It cannot be lost sight of that order of the High Court is alleged to have been forged, which is at the root of the alleged offences. Taking into consideration the material on record, nature and gravity of the offence and the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, in the considered view of this Court, the present is not a fit case for grant of bail. The applicant is, therefore, rejected. Rule is discharged.

It is made clear that the Court has considered the matter only from the perspective of bail and no observation made in this order may be taken to be on the merits of the case. The Trial Court may proceed in accordance with law, without being influenced by any observations made in this order.

(emphasis supplied)

The second successive bail application, being Criminal Misc. Application No. 14628 of 2009, also came to be rejected by judgment dated 04.02.2010, for the reasons stated in the judgment dated 09.10.2009 passed in the earlier bail application.

In addition to the earlier grounds, the applicant has raised a ground regarding ill-health of her daughter in the second application that was dealt with by this Court as follows:

I have heard the learned counsel for the respective parties, perused the averments made in the application, contents of the FIR, judgment of the Sessions Court and other documents on record. It is worthy of notice that the earlier bail application filed by the applicant, being Criminal Misc. Application No. 9454 of 2009, has been rejected by order dated 9-10-2009 of this court by assigning reasons, after the learned counsel for the respective parties were heard at length. As the material on record indicates the prima facie involvement of the applicant in the commission of the alleged offences, the said bail application has been rejected. The aspect of the involvement of the applicant, the manner of involvement, the submissions made on her behalf have already been considered. The seriousness of the offences in which the applicant is involved and the manner in which the offence has been committed have already been taken into consideration. Even so, the applicant has moved the present application for bail on the same grounds, by urging there is a change in circumstances, regarding the health of her daughter. Insofar as this additional ground is concerned, it appears from the material produced on record, that the daughter of the applicant, who is said to be suffering from Neurological problems, is 20 years old. It cannot be said after perusing the medical papers that the daughter of the applicant is suffering from a neurological disease. On the contrary, the reports of the CT-Scans show that it is normal. Some tablets have been prescribed by prescriptions by various Doctors, on different dates, but there does not appear to be any diagnosis or certificate from any medical authority, to the effect that the daughter of the applicant is suffering from any neurological disease or disorder. The last prescription is dated 21-11-2009 and shows that some tablets have been prescribed by a Psychiatrist.

It is in this background that the present bail application has been filed.

Though Mr. B.S. Patel, learned advocate for the applicant has filed a leave-note today, Mr. Chirag B. Patel, learned advocate, submits that he has been instructed by Mr. B.S. Patel, to conduct the matter on his behalf.

This Court has heard Mr. Chirag B. Patel, learned counsel for the applicant and Mr. K.L. Pandya, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State of Gujarat, at length.

Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that though this is the third successive bail application, the Court may consider that the applicant has been in custody ever since 04.03.2009, which is almost for four years. Considering the long period of incarceration, she may be enlarged on bail. It is further submitted that the Court may release the applicant on bail in view of the provisions of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, as the maximum limit of punishment for the offence punishable u/s 120B of the Indian Penal Code, which was added to the charge-sheet later on, is two years. The applicant has already undergone half the period of sentence that can be imposed for the other offences, she is charged with which aspect may be considered.

No other submissions have been advanced by learned counsel for the applicant.

Mr. K.L. Pandya, learned Additional Public Prosecutor has opposed the grant of bail to the applicant by submitting that this is the third successive bail application. As the Court has found a prima-facie case against the applicant, as recorded in the earlier order dated 09.10.2009, passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 9454 of 2009, and order dated 04.02.2010, passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 14 62 8 of 2 009, the applicant may not be enlarged on bail, as there is no change in circumstances justifying her release. It is submitted that the applicant is charged with having committed an offence punishable u/s 467 of the Indian Penal Code, the maximum punishment for which is life imprisonment and the minimum punishment is imprisonment for 10 years. Considering the same, it cannot be said that the provisions of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 are attracted in the case of the applicant.

Learned Additional Public Prosecutor has further relied upon the following judgments in support of his submissions:

(1) Kalyan Chandra Sarkar Vs. Rajesh Ranjan @ Pappu Yadav and Another, .

(2) Rajubhai Pithabhai Vala Vs. State of Gujarat and Others, .

(3) Judgment dated 12.09.2011 passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 2337 of 2011.

(4) Judgment dated 20.10.2011 passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 14224 of 2011.

(5) Judgment dated 30.09.2011 passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 11630 of 2011.

As this Court has already dealt with the previous two bail applications filed by the applicant on merits, the same exercise is not proposed to be repeated. Considering that this is the third successive bail application, the submissions advanced on behalf of the applicant would be considered.

The first submission made on behalf of the applicant is that she has been in custody with effect from 04.03.2009, that is almost for a period of four years. In Kalyan Chandra Sarkar v. Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and another (Supra) the Supreme Court has held as below:

********* In the impugned order it is noticed that the High Court has given the period of incarceration already undergone by the accused and the unlikelihood of trial concluding in the near future as grounds sufficient to enlarge the accused on bail, in spite of the fact that the accused stands charged of offences punishable with life imprisonment or even death penalty. In such cases, in our opinion, the mere fact that the accused has undergone certain period of incarceration (three years in this case) by itself would not entitle the accused to being enlarged on bail, nor the fact that the trial is not likely to be concluded in the near future either by itself or coupled with the period of incarceration would be sufficient for enlarging the appellant on bail when the gravity of the offence alleged is severe and there are allegations of tampering with the witnesses by the accused during the period he was on bail.

(emphasis supplied)

From the above, it is clear that the mere period of incarceration would not be a factor, by itself, to release the applicant on bail, without taking into consideration the seriousness of the offences with which the applicant is charged and the severity of the punishment that would entail, if the applicant is convicted.

In the present case, considering the above factors, the gravity of the offences in which the petitioner is alleged to have been involved cannot be ignored only because of the period of incarceration.

Though the applicant is not precluded from filing successive bail applications, there has to be a substantial change in circumstances for the Court to consider the grant of bail, which aspect does not emerge in the present case.

In Kalyan Chandra Sarkar v. Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav and another (Supra), the Supreme Court has held as below:

Before concluding, we must note though an accused has a right to make successive applications for grant of bail the court entertaining such subsequent bail applications has a duty to consider the reasons and grounds on which the earlier bail applications were rejected. In such cases, the court also has a duty to record what are the fresh grounds which persuade it to take a view different from the one taken in the earlier applications. In the impugned order we do not see any such fresh ground recorded by the High Court while granting bail. It also failed to take into consideration that at least on four occasions order refusing bail has been affirmed by this Court and subsequently when the High Court did grant bail, this Court by its order dated 26th July, 2000 cancelled the said bail by a reasoned order. From the impugned order, we do not notice any indication of the fact that the High Court took note of the grounds which persuaded this Court to cancel the bail. Such approach of the High Court, in our opinion, is violative of the principle of binding nature of judgments of superior court rendered in a lis between the same parties, and in effect tends to ignore and thereby render ineffective the principles enunciated therein which have a binding character.

In the present case, the previous two applications filed by the applicant have been rejected by reasoned orders wherein the Court has come to the conclusion that a prima-facie case is made out against the applicant and the offences allegedly committed by the applicant are grave and serious in nature.

No change of circumstance, leave alone any substantial change, has been pleaded by the applicant in the present application. The fact that the charge u/s 120B of IPC has been added subsequently, is also not a circumstance that would persuade the Court to enlarge the applicant on bail, as it has arisen from the same set of facts, and is not a new circumstance.

The aspect that the applicant has been in custody with effect from 04.03.2009 was a ground that has already been taken into consideration while rejecting the earlier two bail applications.

Insofar as the provisions of Sections 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, are concerned, they provide that, where a person has undergone detention for a period extending upto one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence under law, he shall be released by the Court on his personal bond, with or without sureties.

In the present case, the applicant is charged with an offences punishable u/s 467 of IPC, for which the maximum punishment is life imprisonment and the minimum punishment is imprisonment for 10 years. The provisions of Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 would, therefore, not be applicable to the case of the applicant.

As already mentioned earlier, this Court has recorded lengthy reasons in the previous two orders, whereby the bail applications filed by the applicant have been rejected. So as not to burden this judgment, those reasons are not being reproduced. Therefore, for reasons stated in the order dated 09.10.2009, passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 9454 of 2009 and the order dated 04.02.2010, passed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 14628 of 2009, in addition to the reasons given hereinabove, in my considered view, as there is no change in the fact-situation or the surrounding circumstances, the prayer for grant of bail cannot be accepted.

Accordingly, the present application stands rejected.

Rule is discharged. It is made clear that the Court has considered the matter only from the perspective of bail and no observation made in this order may be taken to be on the merits of the case. The Trial Court may proceed in accordance with law, without being influenced by any observation made in this order.