IMPORTANT POINT
Seriousness of crime is no ground to refuse bail.

JUDGMENT

A.K. SIKRI, J.

Delay condoned in Diary No. 26339 of 2017.

2) Leave granted.

3) In the Criminal Appeal arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 5611 of 2017, the appellant, on whose complaint case is registered against respondent No.2 herein under Sections 498-A, 302 and 120-B IPC, has challenged order dated March 09, 2017 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, whereby respondent No. 2 has been enlarged on bail subject to the following conditions:

“(a) The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence.

(b) The applicant shall not pressurize the prosecution witnesses.

(c) The applicant shall appear on the date fixed by the trial court.

(d) The applicant shall not commit an offence similar to the offence of which he is accused, or suspected of the commission, of which he is suspected.

(e) The applicant shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer or tamper with the evidence.

In case of default of any of the conditions enumerated above, it would be open to the opposite party to approach the Court concerned for cancellation of bail.

However, it is directed that the aforesaid case pending before the court below be decided expeditiously, if possible within a period of one year strictly, on day to day basis in accordance with Section 309 Cr.P.C. and also in view of principle as has been laid down in the recent judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Vinod Kumar v. State of Punjab; 2015 (3) SCC 220 if there is no legal impediment.

It is made clear that in case, the witnesses are not appearing before the court concerned, liberty is being given to the concerned court to take necessary coercive measures in accordance with law for ensuring the presence of the witnesses.

Apart from the aforesaid conditions, it is further provided that the applicant shall surrender his passport within a period of two weeks’ from the date of his release before the concerned court and shall co-operate with the investigation. It is further provided that the applicant shall present himself before the court concerned on each and every date and will not seek any adjournment whatsoever and in case any adjournment is sought on any exceptional circumstances, the court concerned shall specify the reasons in the order itself while granting such adjournment. It is also provided that in case, there is any change of address, the concerned S.S.P. and the Court shall be immediately informed.

Liberty is also being given to the learned counsel for the complainant to file a bail cancellation application before the court concerned itself, in case, there is any violation on the part of the applicant of the aforesaid conditions.”

4) Other appeal is preferred by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the same relief as CBI also feels aggrieved by the same very order granting bail to respondent No. 2, who is facing trial in the aforesaid case.

5) The gravamen of the charge against respondent No. 2 is that he has murdered his wife Smt. Sara Singh. The allegations in the chargesheet are that respondent No. 2 got married to the deceased at Arya Samaj Mandir, Lucknow on July 27, 2013 where after the deceased went to live at her mother’s place due to the social non-acceptance of their marriage by the family members of respondent No. 2. She used to live at her mother’s place when suddenly respondent No. 2 started behaving cordially with his wife and planned a trip in July, 2015 along with her to New Delhi/Leh. During the course of their journey, the Maruti Swift Car allegedly met with an accident on July 09, 2015 near Sirsaganj, District Firozabad. It was not an accident but a preplanned plot to get rid of the deceased and subsequently a FIR dated July 18, 2015 was registered by the appellant herein who is the mother of the deceased. Consequently the Case Crime No. 3