Sushil Kumar Dixit vs State of U.P., Chand Kumar Verma, Rajeev Kumar Verma and Sanjeev Kumar Verma

Vinod Prasad, J.—This bail cancellation application has been filed by Sushil Kumar Dixit, informant of crime No. C-2 of 2006, under Sections 307, 323, 504, 506 I.P.C., P.S. Raipurwa, District Kanpur Nagar seeking cancellation of bail granted to respondents, namely, Chand Kumar Verma, Rajeev Kumar Verma and Sanjeev Kumar Verma.

The allegations against the respondents accused through an application u/s 156(3) Cr.P.C. were that they had cheated the informant to a tune of Rs. Nine lac regarding which crime No. 355 of 2003, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C. was registered against them in district Lucknow and the trial was proceeding in the court of C.J.M., Lucknow. The aforesaid accused persons were pressurizing the complainant not to five evidence in the aforesaid case. Motivated by the aforesaid reason, on 26.1.2006 near Jhakarkati Pull the father and the two sons surrounded the informant Shushil Kumar Dixit, at 7.00 P.M. and threatened him to withdraw the case. On the refusal by the informant to scummed their request the two sons assaulted the complainant whereas the father shot at him. The informant applicant Sushil Kumar Dixit got himself of medically examined and his medical report indicates that he has sustained two contusions and a complaint of pain and superficial to deep burnt injury on ear pinna. Beacause the accused persons were involved in the earlier case under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 I.P.C., therefore, their bail is sought to be cancelled in the latter crime, which was granted Sessions Judge, Kanpur Nagar on 26.8.2006 in bail application No. 2240 of 2006 on the ground of tampering with witnesses of the earlier case.

I have heard Sri Sushil Kumar Shukla, learned Counsel for the applicant in this bail cancellation application and the learned A.G.A. in opposition.

Learned Counsel for the applicant vehemently argued that bail has been wrongly granted to the accused because they were earlier granted bail which they had misused by tampering with the evidence of the earlier case by assaulting the informant of that case the applicant, and therefore; they should not have been released on bail by the Sessions Judge who committed a mistake in granting bail to the accused respondents. Learned Counsel for the applicant contended that the purpose of grant of bail is that the accused be present themselves for trial and bail can be cancelled if there is misused of the liberty of bail by tampering with evidence of the case. He, therefore, submitted that the bail of respondents accused the father and his two sons, be cancelled and they should be sent to jail as they have forfeited their right to remain on bail.

Learned A.G.A. on the other hand submitted that bail has been rightly granted to the accused persons because there was litigation between both the sides and both the parties had filed cases against each other and were in the look out to implicate their rival.He further submitted that the inuries sustained by the informant were not commesurate with the prosecution version and therefore also liberty of bail should not be cancelled and instead some condiction should be imposed.

I have considered the submissions by the rival sides. A perusal of the bail granting order of the respondents accused indicate that there was rivalry between the applicant and the accused persons and at least in four cases the present applicant Sushil Kumar Dixit is an accused which has been lodged by the respondents accused persons. These cases are detailed below:

Case Crime No. 669 of 2001, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 506, 120B I.P.C., P.S. Cannaught Place, New Delhi.

Case Crime No. 876 of 2001, under Sections 406, 420, 471, 120B I.P.C., P.S. Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.

Case Crime No. 257 of 2003, under Sections 307, 326, 324, 34 I.P.C. P.S. Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.

Case Crime No. 554 of 2004, u/s 506 I.P.C., P.S. Hazarat Nizamuddin, New Delhi.

It also transpires from the bail granting order that the F.I.R. was lodged with a great delay. The occurrence of tampering was alleged to be have occurred on 26.1.2006 at 7.00 P.M. whereas report was registered on 3.3.2006 at 11.55 pm after a gap of one month and 8 days through an application u/s 156(3) Cr.P.C. filed on 3rd February 2006 that is after a gap of nine Hays of the incident. The Sessions Judge also considered the fact that one of the accused respondent Chnad Kumar had alibi and he was in Jammu in connection with the last rights of his deceased wife for which he had filed the hotel receipts of hotel Basara Cinema. Learned Sessions Judge also took note of the facts that the accused persons were a resident of Delhi and they had never visited Kanpur Nagar prior to the said incident and in Delhi they had lodged many cases against the applicant. It was also argued before learned Sessions Judge that medical examination of the applicant Sushil Kumar Dixit took place on the application of Rakesh Kumar Mishra and in that application Kit was mentioned that some people had beaten Sushil Kumar Dixit and had fired at him and therefore, he should be medically examined and in that application the name of the accused respondents are not mentioned. Taking over all view of facts of the case and the submissions made Sessions Judge Bias allowed bail to the applicant.

Grant of bail is one thing and cancellation of the same is quite another. Bail to accused can be cancelled only for a very cogent and sustainable reasons such as tampering with evidence, fleeing from justice, thwarting the course of justice or the offence is such in which bail should not have been granted. In the present case none of the said ground exist. Sessions Judge has taken into consideration various factors and he had come to opinion that allegations of tampering is not free from doubt. He also took into consideration that the accused respondents were, probably, not involved in the case as the application for the medical examination of the applicant Sushil Kumar Dixit does not indicate that the respondents accused were present at the time of the incident and their name were not disclosed at the earliest opportunity. He has also taken into consideration the fact that one of the m accused had an alibi and he was in Jammu and also the fact that application kinder Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. for getting the F.I.R. registered was filed by the applicant Sushil Kumar Dixit very belatedly. The law relating to cancellation of bail has been spelt out by the Apex Court in Aslam Babalal Desai Vs. State of Maharashtra, in the following words:

As stated in Raghubir Singh and Others Vs. State of Bihar, the grounds for cancellation under Sections 437(5) and 439(2) are identical, namely, bail granted u/s 437(1) or (2) or 439(1) can be cancelled where (i) the accused misuses his liberty by indulging in similar criminal activity, (ii) interferes with the course of investigation (iii) attempts to tamper with evidence or witnesses, (iv) threatens witnesses or indulges in similar activities which would hamper smooth investigation, (v) there is likelihood of his fleeing to another country, (vi) attempts to make himself scarce by going underground or becoming unavailable to the investigating agency, (vii) attempts to place himself beyond the reach of his surety, etc. These grounds are illustrative and not exhaustive. It must also be remembered that rejection of bail stands on one footing but cancellation of bail is a harsh order because it interferes with the liberty of the individual and hence it must not be lightly resorted to.

It has further been held in AIR 2004 SC Raj Kumar Tain v. Kundan Jain as follows:

Having heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the records, we are convinced that the impugned order of the High Court cancelling the anticipatory bail granted to the appellants cannot be sustained in law. It is an admitted fact that within 14 days of the marriage of the first appellant to Dimple Jain daughter of the first respondent herein, disputes had arisen between them and they had started living separately. There were complaints and counter-complaints between the parties which had compelled the appellants herein and 2 others to obtain anticipatory bail from the High Court. It is also an admitted fact that pursuant to the directions issued by the High Court in the said bail order, the persons who sought bail from the High Court including these 2 appellants, had surrendered before the Court and offered bailbonds which was accepted by the Court concerned and furtherance of the directions issued by the High Court though appellant No. 2 was not required to attend the Police Station without being summoned, he along with appellant No. 1, was attending the Police Station everyday. In this background, if really threat as alleged by Harish Bhuva was administered to him on 15-2-2003 a complaint in this regard would have certainly been lodged either on that day itself or on the next day. On the contrary, as could be seen from the records, a complaint was posted only on 17-2-2003 at about 1956 hours through speed post. Of course, there is an allegation that on 16th evening, an oral complain was lodged but there is no record substantiating the same, except the ipse dixit of Harish Bhuva. Then again, if we read the affidavit filed by the Inspector of Police, which was 8 months after the alleged threat, it is seen that this Officer makes a complaint for the first time that the second appellant has not complied with the conditions imposed by the High Court while granting bail of appearing before the Police. This is a fact, in our opinion, far from truth. As a matter of fact, as per the order granting anticipatory bail to the appellants and two Others, there was a direction only with regard to the first appellant herein to stay in Chennai for a week, others were not even required to be in Chennai but they had to report to the Police as and when required by the Police. If really the second appellant had disobeyed this direction, we would not have expected tin Police Officer to condone this default and wait for nearly 10 months before making an issue of it in an application filed for cancellation of bail by the first respondent. It is further seen from the said affidavit of the Police Inspector that Harish Bhuva lodged the complaint as to the threat administered to him only on t 17-2-2003. She has not stated anything about the oral complaint that is allegedly lodged by said Harish Bhuva on 16-2-2003. If we notice the allegation made in the affidavit filed by Harish Bhuva in this regard, it could be seen that he informed the first respondent about the visit of the appellant to his house and the first respondent promised him that his interest would be protected in a manner known to law but he does not state in that affidavit that he tried to lodge an oral complaint on 16-2-2003. As notice above, in the I background of the facts of this case, we find it difficult to believe that this witness would have failed to inform the first respondent of the visit of the appellants on 15-2-2003 itself and first respondent or said Harish Bhuva would have failed to lodge a complaint with the concerned Police immediately thereafter either on 15-2-2003 or 16-2-2003. The actual complaint lodged as stated above, was only on 17-2-2003 and that too was only posted at 1956 hours. This delay in lodging a complaint itself creates a doubt in our mind as to the authenticity of this complaint. In this factual background, we are of the opinion that the High Court was not justified in cancelling the bail granted.

Further in the case Samarendra Nath Bhattacharjee Vs. State of West Bengal and Another, it has been held by the Apec Court as follows:

Having heard the learned Counsel and having perused the records of the case, we notice that the trial court after looking into the case diary and other material produced before it and also noticing the fact that investigating agency had only sought judicial remand, and the argument of the possibility of accused tampering with the evidence still taking into consideration the age and ailments of the accused appellant granted bail on stringent condition.

Per contra, the High Court, in our opinion, has approached the case as if it is an appeal against the conviction by giving findings on factual issues which are yet to be decided which in our opinion, is too premature and is likely to prejudice the trial.

Applying the principles enunciated in the aforesaid judgements on the, facts of the case it transpires that none of the reasons which merited with the Sessions Judge for exercising the discretionary jurisdiction for grant of bail can be said to be perverse or unsustainable and it can not be said that he had exercised his descritionary jurisdiction illegally without any valid reasons. Further tampering of witnesses is alleged to have occurred on 26.1.2006 and the Session''s Judge granted bail to the accused respondents on 26.8.2006 and during the course of argument the FIR of alleged tampering was considered by him and there after he has granted bail to the accused respondents. Bail cancellation application was filed in this Court on 4.9.2006 after a gap of nearly ten days and during interregnum period of January 2006 to this date September 2006 nothing has been done by the accused nor any other fact of tampering has been brought on the record to cancell the bai, of the accused respondents and santch awy their liberty of the peculier facts of this cancellation application.

In view of the above, I do not find any merit in this bail cancellation implication, which stands dismissed at the admission stage itself.