Rohit And Ors vs State Of Kerala

The applicants are accused Nos. 1 to 5 in Crime No. 779/2020 of the Cheruthuruthy Police Station, Thrissur, for having allegedly committed offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 341, 323, 324 and 308 r/w Section 149 of the IPC.

The prosecution case in brief is that on 16.12.2020 at about 07.45 p.m., the applicants and six others formed an unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons like a knuckle duster, attacked the defacto complainant after wrongfully restrained him, near the provisional store of one city named Nedumpura and the 1st accused fisted him on his face with the knuckle duster, causing cut injury on his face and the remaining accused kicked him and fisted him and thus attempted to commit culpable homicide.

The applicants state that the allegations are not true and that following the local body elections the applicants were celebrating the victory of the LDF candidates and in between the defacto complainant allegedly questioned them and there was a scuffle between them and he sustained some minor injuries. The specific allegation against the 1st accused was that he attempted to inflict a blow on the neck of the defacto complainant and because the defacto complainant evaded, he escaped with a simple hurt. Therefore, the applicants have been accused of committing offences under section 308 of the IPC. The applicants have no criminal antecedents they are willing to co-operate with the investigation and therefore the applicants seek pre-arrest bail.

Heard the learned counsel for the applicant and the learned Public Prosecutor. The learned Public Prosecutor submits that the weapon has been yet to be recovered. For that, the custody of the 1st accused is imperative.

After having heard the submissions on both sides, I find that the 1st accused was moving around with a dangerous weapon like a knuckle duster, which indicates that he had intention to cause hurt. Therefore, he has to be subjected to custodial interrogation, for the purpose of recovery. The rest of the accused was not wielding any weapons and therefore they are entitled to pre-arrest bail.

The application is allowed in part, and the applicants are directed to surrender before the investigating officer within two weeks from today. In the event of their arrest, after interrogation and recovery, if any, the 1st accused shall be produced before the jurisdictional magistrate, and any application for regular bail preferred by the 1st accused shall be considered and the same preferably disposed of on the same day.

The remaining accused shall be released on bail on their executing a bond for a sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty thousand only) each with two solvent sureties each for the like sum to the satisfaction of the investigating officer and on the following conditions:

(i) The applicants shall appear before the Investigating Officer as and when called for.

(ii) They shall not tamper with evidence, intimidate or influence witnesses.

(iii) They shall not get involved in similar offences during the bail period.

In case of the breach of the bail conditions, the prosecution shall be at liberty to apply for cancellation of the bail.