Pankaj Joshi vs State Of Uttarakhand

Ravindra Maithani, J

Applicant is in judicial custody in Case Crime No.0018 of 2023, under Section 307 and 354 IPC and Section 25/4 of the Arms Act, 1959, Police Station-Betalghat, District- Nainital. He has sought his release on bail.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

According to the FIR, on 01.09.2023, at 6:15, in the evening, when the informant was answering the call of nature, on her way to home, one unknown her took her into the bushes and attacked her with a knife. The informant raised alarm. In the meanwhile, a vehicle approached the direction. Sensing fear, the assailant ran away. The FIR records that the informant does not know the assailant.

Learned counsel for the applicant would submit that the applicant has been falsely implicated; in her initial statement, the informant had stated that she did not know the assailant, but, subsequently, she named him without any identification having been done. He would also submit that the driver of the vehicle, who allegedly identified the applicant, has turned hostile during trial.

Learned State Counsel would submit that the applicant is named by the informant in her statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“the Code”).

It is a stage of bail. Much of the discussion is not expected of. Arguments are being appreciated with the caveat that any observation made in this order shall have no bearing at any subsequent stage of the trial, or in any other proceeding.

In the FIR, the informant categorically writes that she did not know the assailant. She is not in acquaintance with him. That is what the informant has stated in her statement under Section 161 of the Code. Admittedly, no test identification was done. How in her statement under Section 164 of the Code, the informant could tell the name of the applicant? Moreover, it is admitted that the driver of the vehicle has not supported the prosecution case.

Having considered, this Court is of the view that it is a case fit for bail and the applicant deserves to be enlarged on bail.

The bail application is allowed.

Let the applicant be released on bail, on his executing a personal bond and furnishing two reliable sureties, each in the like amount, to the satisfaction of the court concerned.