Shivraj Veer vs State Of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.

Permission to file the petition is granted.

Delay condoned.

Leave granted.

This appeal arises out of the judgment dated 28.06.2018 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad granting bail to respondent no.2 herein.

The crime in question was registered pursuant to FIR dated 1.10.2014 filed by the appellant-Shivraj Veer son of Ram Charan. FIR stated as under:

"Today, on 1.10.2014, at about 3.00 pm, I and my brothers Surendra and Ramvilas, my Tau, my mother Anguri Devi, my wife Renu, my sister Seema Devi were present in our house. During that time, Dillip, S/o Mahrban Singh; Balveer S/o Sudhar Singh; Ranveer S/o Maan Singh; Baba S/o Mahrban Singh; Sanjeev S/o Lakhan Singh; Vinod S/o Jairam; Ramveer S/o Mijajee lal; and Bhure S/o Karan Singh of Tanda Bharthana arrived there in three motorcycles and a Bolero jeep. They stopped in front of our house and started firing from their licenced and unlicenced pistols suddenly, with the intention to kill us. We had a narrow escape but Surendra had died on the spot, receiving the bullet. Ramvilas was injured by the bullet. They had fractured my mother Anguri Devi's hand and assaulted her. All those aforementioned people took away Ramvilas in their vehicle. He has not been traced till date. I, all my family members; Hajarilal S/o Ram Singh and Chhote, S/o Ram Singh, R/o Sirkiman District Etawa, who had come to purchase our buffaloes; have seen this incident. My brother Surendra's dead body is lying in the house. I have come to lodge a report."

The body of Ram Vilas was later recovered from a village in Madhya Pradesh.

After investigation, charge-sheet was filed by the police against three persons, including respondent no.2. The matter is still awaiting committal. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that a protest petition has been filed by the original complainant ventilating grievance as regards non-inclusion of persons named in the FIR as accused. The matter still awaits consideration and, as such, we have not expressed any opinion on merits or demerits of the contentions.

It must however be noted that respondent no.2 was taken into custody on 13.02.2018 and by virtue of the order under appeal, he was released on bail on 28.06.2018, barely after four and half months.

The order of the High Court itself discloses that respondent no.2 had surrendered after a long period when coercive action was initiated against him and that two other accused persons who have been sent up for trial were still at large.

Considering the allegations and the specific role assigned to respondent no.2, in our considered view, no case was made out for releasing him on bail at this stage.

We, therefore, set-aside the order passed by the High Court and direct that respondent no.2 shall surrender within two weeks from today. In case, he fails to surrender, the police shall immediately arrest him and take him into custody.

A copy of this order shall be sent to the concerned police station and the jurisdictional Chief Judicial Magistrate for compliance. The compliance shall be reported to this Court within two weeks therefrom.

The appeal is allowed, in aforesaid terms.