Satyajeet Mandal vs State of Uttarakhand

Heard Mr. Lalit Sharma, Advocate for the applicant and Ms. Mamta Joshi, Brief Holder for the State of Uttarakhand.

This is the third bail application seeking regular bail in FIR No. 216 of 2015, which has been registered under Sections 489B / 489C of IPC, at Police Station Transit Camp, Rudrapur, District Udham Singh Nagar.

The first and second bail applications of the applicant were rejected by this Court vide orders dated 16.03.2016 and 03.10.2016 respectively.

Learned counsel for the applicant submits that other co-accused who were on similar footing have been granted bail by this Court and twice the bail applications of the present applicant have been rejected. Learned counsel for the applicant further submits that now in the trial two main witnesses of the prosecution have turned hostile. It has further been argued that the maximum punishment under Section 489B is 10 years and under Section 489C it is 7 years and no minimum punishment is prescribed.

Considering the facts that the accused is in jail since 27.08.2015 i.e. for almost two years and the co-accused have already been granted bail, this Court is of the opinion that the applicant is liable to be released on bail. Bail application is, therefore, allowed.

Let the applicant be enlarged on bail in the aforesaid crime on his executing a personal bond and two reliable sureties each of the equal amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned.

It is made clear that any observations made by this Court are only for the purposes of grant of bail. It shall not be taken into consideration at all in any other proceedings.