Sriram Sahoo And Others vs State Of Odisha

I.A. No.814 of 2021

This is an application seeking regular bail by the Appellant No.1 (Sriram Sahoo), who is husband of the deceased. It may be noted here that the Appellant Nos.2 and 3 who are father-in-law and mother-in-law respectively of the deceased have already been released on bail by this Court.

The present Appellant has been in custody for over a period of seven years now.

The Court's attention has been drawn to the decision of a Division Bench of this Court in Leti @ Jayadeb Ray v. The State (1990) 3 OCR 427 where in light of the large pendency of criminal appeals and the likelihood of such appeals involving life imprisonment not being able to be taken up for hearing at an early date, the Court devised a method matter of releasing the convict on interim bail for a temporary period to enable his conduct during such interim period to be observed. The rationale as explained by this Court was: "If it would be found that he has misused the liberty, the period of release on bail would not be enlarged. If, however, there be nothing against the convict, he would merit release on bail till disposal of his appeal".

In the light of the above judgment, the Court directs that the present Applicant/Appellant No.1 be enlarged on interim bail for a period of three months from the date of his release subject to the terms to be incorporated in its order by the trial Court. The Appellant No.1 should surrender promptly upon expiry of the interim bail period and the certificate of surrender should be placed before this Court immediately thereafter.

The Inspector-in-Charge (IIC), Nandipada Police Station would observe the conduct of the Appellant No.1 during the interim bail period and submit a report to this Court on the next date.

List on 4th April, 2022.

An urgent certified copy of this order be issued as per rules.

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