Munikrishna @ Krishna vs State of Karnataka

V. Jagannathan, J.—Heard both sides in respect of the bail petition filed by the Petitioner u/s 439 of Code of Criminal Procedure following a case being registered by the Kengeri Police Station, against the Petitioner in Crime No. 125/2010 for offences punishable u/s 302 read with Section 201 of IPC and Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

The case of the prosecution in short is that on 6.4.2010, in the night, when the cook Raja @ Jutta, supplier Venkatesh Reddy and other employees of the hotel Manjunatha Lunch Home had gathered before going to sleep, Upendra @ Rangaiah (deceased) asked Rs. 300/- to have drinks and in turn Manjunatha asked the Petitioner who happens to be the hotel owner to give the said amount and the Petitioner in turn told Manjunatha that amount would be given on the following day and let the work go on. But the deceased insisted upon the amount being paid and this made the Petitioner angry and he gave a blow on the cheek of the deceased with his hand. Deceased fell down en the cement floor and later was found dead.

The learned Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that even if the entire prosecution allegation is taken on its face value, yet no offence of murder can be made out as the blow alleged to have been given, by this Petitioner was only with his hands on the cheek of the deceased. In this connection, learned Counsel referred to the statement of the eyewitnesses recorded by the police. Therefore, learned Counsel sought for bail

On the other hand, Shri P. Karunakar, learned HCGP for the State argued that the cause of death has been opined as due to head injury and there are eyewitnesses to the incident and therefore, grant of bail is not warranted having regard to the nature of offence alleged against the petitioner.

Having thus heard both sides and after going through the statement of eyewitnesses, I do find enough force in the submission made by Petitioner''s counsel that even if the prosecution case is taken as true at this stage, whether the single blow given on the cheek (a non-vital part) by the Petitioner with his hands could bring the case u/s 302 of IPC or not is a matter which will have to be gone into by the trial court and at this stage, having regard to the statement of all the eyewitnesses that this Petitioner gave one single blow with hands on the cheek of the deceased, I am of the view that Petitioner can be released on bail by imposing conditions to safeguard the interest of the prosecution.

In the result, the petition is allowed subject to following conditions:

(i) The Petitioner shall be released on bail on his executing a personal bond for a sum of Rs. 50,000/- with two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the trial court.

(ii) The Petitioner shall not tamper with the prosecution witnesses in any manner and shall not give threat to complainant or any of the eyewitnesses directly or indirectly.

(iii) The Petitioner shall mark his attendance before the Kengeri police station on every Sunday at any time between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

(iv) The Petitioner shall not leave his place without the prior permission of the jurisdictional Magistrate.

If any of the above conditions are violated, the prosecution k at liberty to move for cancellation of bail