Vinod Kumar And Ors vs State And Ors

In wake of onslaught of COVID-19, lawyers have been advised to refrain from coming to the Courts.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material available on record.

These three criminal appeals under Section 14A of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (hereinafter to be referred as 'the SC/ST Act') bearing Nos.836/2020, 648/2020 and 755/2020 have been filed on behalf of the appellants Vinod Kumar, Ved Prakash @ Ved and Jempy @ Kaku respectively being aggrieved with the impugned orders passed by the learned Court below dismissing their bail applications whereas, S.B. Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.10760/2020 has been preferred by the petitioner Sukhwant Singh.

The appellants/petitioner have been arrested in connection with FIR No. 90/2020 of Police Station Hanumangarh Town, District Hanumangarh for the offence punishable under Sections 458, 323, 325, 307, 147, 148 & 149 of IPC and Sections 3(1)(S). 3(2)(V), 3(2)(Va) of SC/ST Act.

Learned counsel for the appellants/petitioner submit that similarly situated co-accused persons namely, Sunil Kumar @ Sonu (S.B. Crl. Misc. Bail Application No.9361/2020, decided on 26.8.2020), Chandra Bhan (S.B. Crl. Misc. Bail Application No.7499/2020, decided on 4.8.2020), Ramesh Kumar (S.B. Crl. Appeal No.564/2020, decided on 4.8.2020), Rajesh Kumar (S.B. Crl. Appeal No.450/2020, decided on 27.5.2020), Gurpreet Singh @ Balkaran Singh (S.B. Crl. Misc. Bail Application No.5612/2020, decided on 3.6.2020), Prem Kumar (S.B. Crl. Misc. Bail Application No.4787/2020, decided on 26.5.2020), Jagmeet Singh (S.B. Crl. Appeal No.472/2020, decided on 3.6.2020) and Raku @ Rakesh (S.B. Crl. Appeal No.473/2020, decided on 3.6.2020) have already been released on bail by this Court.

Having regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, this Court deems it just and proper to allow the appeals filed by the accused appellants under Section 14-A of SC/ST Act and the bail application filed by the petitioner under Section 439 Cr.P.C.

Accordingly, the criminal appeals filed under Section 14A of SC/ST Act bearing Nos.836/2020, 648/2020 and 755/2020 are allowed and the order dated 15.09.2020 passed by the learned Special Judge, SC/ST Act Cases, Hanumangarh in Criminal Misc. Case No.149/2020 (CIS No.134/2020), order dated 29.07.2020 passed by the learned Special Judge, SC/ST Court, Hanumangarh in Criminal Misc. Case No.102/2020 (CIS No.91/2020) and order dated 14.08.2020 passed by the learned Special Judge, SC/ST Court, Hanumangarh in Criminal Misc. Case No.117/2020 (CIS No.105/2020) are set aside. S.B. Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.10760/2020 under Section 439 Cr.P.C. is also allowed. It is directed that appellants -(1) Vinod Kumar S/o Polaram, (2) Ved Prakash @ Ved S/o Shri Jagdish Kumar @ Madan, (3) Jempy @ Kaku S/o Mukesh Singh and (4) Sukhwant Singh S/o Sh. Gurtej Singh, shall be released on bail in connection with FIR No. 90/2020 of Police Station Hanumangarh Town, District Hanumangarh provided each of them execute a personal bond in a sum of Rs.50,000/- with two sound and solvent sureties of Rs.25,000/- each to the satisfaction of learned trial court for their appearance before that court on each and every date of hearing and whenever called upon to do so till the completion of the trial.