Renju vs State Of Kerala

Dr Kauser Edappagath, J

This application is filed u/s 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking regular bail.

The applicants are the accused Nos.2 and 5 in Crime No.272/2023 of Kundara Police Station. The offences alleged are punishable under Sections 143, 147, 323, 341, 324, 308 and 326 read with 149 of the IPC.

The prosecution case, in short, is that the accused persons having previous enmity towards the complainant and henchmen with intention and knowledge to cause hurt to them, formed an unlawful assembly at 21 hours on 11.2.2023 near Chirayil Madankavu temple. The complainant while dancing in front of the plot decorated for the fest of the temple, the accused Nos. 1 and 2 came dancing and when he questioned it, the accused Nos. 3 to 11 possessing dangerous weapon, wrongfully restrained Ravishankar by taking hold of his shirt's collar and beat him on his cheek and when his friends Mubindas, Amal and Vishnu tired to curtail it, the accused Nos. 5 to 11 attacked them and the 3rd accused used chopper and inflicted deep injuries on the vital parts of Mubindas and Ravishankar and the accused No.4 used dangerous weapon and caused injury to the back portion of the head of Amal. The accused persons had also caused hurt to Akhil, Umesh, Sangeetha and Manju and thereby committed the offences.

I have heard Smt. Anjana Kannath, the learned counsel for the applicants and Smt. T.V. Neema, the learned Senior Public Prosecutor. Perused the case diary.

The learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the applicants are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the present case. The counsel further submitted that no materials are on record to connect the applicants with the alleged crime; hence, they are entitled to get bail. On the other hand, the learned Public Prosecutor submitted that the alleged incident occurred as a part of the intentional criminal acts of the applicants, and they are not entitled to bail at this stage.

The applicants were remanded to judicial custody on 14.2.2023. The investigation is almost over. The applicants were given in police custody and the recovery has been effected. No specific overt act has been alleged against the applicants. For all these reasons, I do not find any reason to hold that the continued detention of the applicants is required for any purpose. Hence, the applicants are entitled to be released on bail.

In the result, the application is allowed on the following conditions: -

(i) The applicants shall be released on bail on executing a bond for Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh only) each with two solvent sureties for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Magistrate/Court.

(ii) The applicants shall fully co-operate with the investigation.

(iii) The applicants shall appear before the investigating officer between 10.00 a.m and 11.00 a.m every Saturday until further orders. They shall also appear before the investigating officer as and when required.

(iv) The applicants shall not commit any offence of a like nature while on bail.

(v) The applicants shall not attempt to contact any of the prosecution witnesses, directly or through any other person, or in any other way try to tamper with the evidence or influence any witnesses or other persons related to the investigation.

(vi) The applicants shall not leave the State of Kerala without the permission of the trial Court.

(vii) The application, if any, for deletion/modification of the bail conditions or cancellation of bail on the grounds of violating the bail conditions shall be filed at the jurisdictional court.