IMPORTANT POINT
Bail cannot be granted solely on ground of parity without considering relevant features of case.

JUDGMENT :

DINESH MAHESHWARI, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Both these appeals are directed against the orders dated 26.08.2020 and 17.06.2020 as passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, respectively in Criminal Miscellaneous Application Nos. 21839 of 2020 and 11840 of 2020, whereby the High Court has granted the concession of bail to the accused persons who are arrayed as respondent No. 2 in each of these appeals.

3. Perusal of the orders impugned make it explicit that the High Court had passed the said orders essentially with reference to the relief granted to the other co-accused persons, as could be noticed from the following submissions taken note of by the High Court in the order dated 26.08.2020:

“Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned AGA for the State and perused the material placed on record.

Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that he has been falsely implicated in the present case. There is general allegation against all the accused and co-accused Faim and Nasir having an identical role has been enlarged on bail by this Court in Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 6083 of 2020 and 11840 of 2020 vide orders dated 25.2.2020 and 17.6.2020 respectively. The case of applicant stands on similar footing, hence the appellant is also entitled for bail on the ground of parity. The appellant is languishing in jail since 21.8.2019 and he has no criminal history except the present case to his credit.

Learned A.G.A. has opposed the prayer for bail, but could not dispute the aforesaid facts.”

4. Similar have been the contentions and observations in the other impugned order dated 17.06.2020.

5. On the matters being taken up for consideration, it is not in dispute that in relation to the other co-accused persons related with this matter, this Court has dealt with the orders granting bail and while disapproving, has set aside the same. To be specific, in the order dated 15.03.2021 in Criminal Appeal No. 317 of 2021, this Court considered and disapproved the order granting bail to the co-accused Fahim. Thereafter, in the order dated 23.09.2022 in Criminal Appeal No. 1669 of 2022, this Court disapproved another bail order made in relation to another co-accused Naim.

6. In essence, in the orders aforesaid, this Court has found that the High Court proceeded to grant the concession of bail, while proceeding on irrelevant considerations and while ignoring relevant features of the case. The orders impugned in the present appeals also suffer from the same shortcomings. In fact, these orders have been passed only following the orders passed earlier in relation to the co-accused persons, which have already been disapproved by this Court.

7. Faced with this position, the learned counsel appearing for the accused-respondent No. 2 has attempted to submit that the said decisions of this Court may not operate against the present respondents for certain distinguishing features. In this regard, the learned counsel has submitted that the accused, in whose relation the order dated 15.03.2021 was passed by this Court, had remained in custody only for a period of six months whereas, the present respondents have been in custody for thirteen months and nine months respectively, before being granted the concession of bail. Learned counsel has further submitted that the orders impugned were passed more than two years ago and it may not serve the cause of justice, if the orders are set aside now and at this juncture. The learned counsel has further read out all the conditions imposed by the High Court while granting bail and has submitted that stringent conditions have been imposed and it has not been the case of anyone that the accused-respondents have violated any of these conditions. The learned counsel has also submitted that in the generalized accusations without any specific role of the persons concerned, the High Court has rightly granted bail to the present respondents which may not be interfered with, even if this Court has taken cont