Ramesh Singh Bisht vs State Of Himachal Pradesh

Jyotsna Rewal Dua, J

The petitioner is an accused in FIR No. 164/2021, registered on 10.8.2021, at Police Station, Boileauganj, District Shimla, under Sections 354D, 509 and 506 of Indian penal Code and Section 66(C) of the Information Technology Act.

Instant petition has been preferred seeking bail under Section 438 of Code of Criminal Procedure. Ad-interim bail was granted to the petitioner on 24.5.2022.

The prosecution case is that on 10.8.2021, a complaint was received at the police station from the prosecutrix, gist of which was that some unknown person has uploaded her photograph on the Facebook and has used objectionable words and obnoxious comments to defame her. The complainant further stated that for defaming her, I.Ds. of ‘Nikhil Thakur’ and ‘Gurjit Sandhu’ had been used. On the basis of the detailed complaint lodged by the prosecutrix, FIR was registered on 10.8.2021 and investigations were carried out. The investigations revealed that it was the bail petitioner who had used fake Facebook I.Ds. of Nikhil Thakur and Gurjit Sandhu to harass the complainant. The investigations also revealed that the complainant was acquainted with the petitioner and that both of them used to exchange calls. Later on, the complainant started avoiding the petitioner, whereafter the petitioner statedly used objectionable and obnoxious comments on the uploaded photograph of the complainant.

As per the status report, filed by the respondent, the petitioner has joined the investigation and is co-operating with the investigating agency. But for offence under Section 506 Indian Penal Code, the other offences are bailable. On the instructions imparted by ASI Suresh Kumar, I/O Police Station, West Shimla, learned Additional Advocate General submits that the investigating agency does not require the custodial interrogation of the petitioner at this stage. However, he further submitted that bail petitioner be directed to continue to join and co-operate with the investigating agency as and when directed.

Taking into consideration the nature of offences alleged against the petitioner, the mode and manner of commission of the offenes, the status report and the fact that the investigating agency does not require custodial interrogation of the petitioner, this bail petition is allowed. The ad-interim protection granted to the petitioner vide order dated 24.05.2022 is made absolute subject to following conditions:

(i) The petitioner shall join the investigation of the case as and when called for by the Investigating Officer in accordance with law and shall cooperate with the Investigating Agency.

(ii) The petitioner shall not tamper with the evidence or hamper the investigation in any manner whatsoever:

(iii) The petitioner shall not contact the complainant, threaten or browbeat her or to use any pressure tactics in any manner whatsoever.

(iv) The petitioner shall not leave India without prior permission of the Court.

(v) The petitioner shall not make any inducement, threat or promise, directly or indirectly, to the Investigating Officer or any person acquainted with the facts of the case to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or any Police Officer;

(vi) The petitioner shall attend the trial on every hearing, unless exempted in accordance with law.

(vii) The petitioner shall inform the Station House Officer of the concerned Police Station about his place of residence during bail and trial. Any change in the same shall also be communicated within two weeks thereafter. Petitioner shall furnish furnish details of his Aadhar Card, Telephone Number, E-mail, PAN Card, Bank Account Number, if any.

In case of violation of any of the terms & conditions of the bail, respondent-State shall be at liberty to move appropriate application for cancellation of the bail. It is made clear that observations made above are only for the purpose of adjudication of instant bail petition and shall not be construed as an opinion on the merits of the matter. Learned trial Court shall decide the matter without being influenced by above observations.

With the aforesaid observations, the present petition stands disposed of, so also the pending miscellaneous applications, if any.