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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PATNA
SUDHIR SINGH, J.
BINDA RAM @ BINDA - Appellant
Versus
THE STATE OF BIHAR AND OTHERS - Respondent
Criminal Miscellaneous No. 18014 of 2020 and Criminal Miscellaneous No. 3206 of 2020
Decided on : 23-02-2021
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Sections 439 and 482 – Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Sections 498(A) and 494 – Bail – Cruelty and bigamy – Courts while granting bail to accused persons, having regard to facts and circumstances of case, would be justified in imposing necessary, just, reasonable and efficacious conditions to secure ends of justice – However, conditions so imposed should not be so excessive, onerous or harsh upon accused person that it frustrates entire objective of enlarging petitioner on bail – While granting bail in disputes arising out of marriage, imposition of condition such as payment of money to wife is a just condition but while deciding amount several factors should be taken into account like socio-economic background of parties, income of person upon whom such condition is imposed, other legal remedies available in law to aggrieved party etc. – List can never be exhaustive and will vary depending upon facts of each case – Court below while imposing condition of payment of Rs.5,000/- to complainant has neither considered economic status of petitioner nor any assessment with regard to income of petitioner has been made – Since petitioner is unable to fulfil condition imposed upon him, he is behind bars in spite of fact that an order of grant of bail has been passed in his favour – Impugned condition deleted/expunged – Rest of conditions contained in impugned order maintained. (Paras 8 to 11)
JUDGMENT :
1. Heard.
2. The present application was initially filed under Section 439 and 440 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as Cr.P.C). However, taking into account the relief sought for in this application, a co-ordinate bench of this court on 20.01.2020 allowed learned counsel to convert this application into an application under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. Pursuant to the said order necessary corrections in the application has been made by the learned counsel for the petitioner and a supplementary affidavit has also been filed to that effect. The same is kept on record. On 12.11.2020 again this matter was taken up by another co-ordinate bench of this court and an order for issuance of notice to Opposite Party No.2 (Complainant) was passed. From perusal of office note dated 11.02.2021, it appears that notices have been validly served upon the O.P. No. 2. However, when the matter is being taken up today nobody has appeared on behalf of O.P. No. 2.
3. The petitioner in this application seeks quashing of one of the conditions imposed upon him by the court of learned Sessions Judge, Gopalganj in order dated 03.04.2018 passed in B.P.No.250 of 2018. The learned court below vide the aforesaid order granted bail to the petitioner and has imposed a condition, requiring him to continue paying a sum of Rs.5000/- to the complainant, failing which the petitioner will not avail the privilege of bail and the complainant will have a right to file an application for cancellation of bail.
4. The marriage of the petitioner was solemnized with the Complainant on 28.02.2002. The Complainant filed a complaint case before the court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gopalganj in the year 2014 against the petitioner and her in-laws alleging therein that the accused persons used to torture the complainant and subjected her to cruelty. It was further alleged that the petitioner has solemnized second marriage and hence committed an offence of bigamy, punishable under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code. In respect to the said complaint case learned S.D.J.M. Gopalganj took cognizance under Section 498(A) and 494 of the Indian Penal Code. The petitioner in this case was taken into judicial custody on 09.01.2018. An application for grant of bail was preferred by the petitioner before the court of Learned Sessions Judge, Gopalganj, which was heard and allowed by the said court by an order dated 03.04.2018. However, while allowing the prayer for grant of bail to the petitioner, the court below imposed the following conditions: -
(ii) In-laws will never create any hindrance in making good harmony between both the spouses."
5. The petitioner then sought modification of the aforesaid order before the court below for the reason that he is a poor labourer and he is not in a position to pay the aforesaid amount as a condition imposed upon him. The said modification application was dismissed by the court below vide order dated 09.07.2019.
6. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is languishing in custody since 09.01.2018. The petitioner is a poor man and does not have sufficient means to comply with the conditions imposed upon him by the court of Learned Sessions Judge, Gopalganj in its order dated 03.04.2018. He further submits that the court below has fixed the amount of Rs.,5000/- without doing any assessment of the income of the petitioner and as such the said condition is unjust and arbitrary. The petitioner is ready to keep his wife with full dignit
Onerous bail conditions requiring the accused to deposit large sums of money are disapproved by the Supreme Court and convert the criminal case into money recovery proceedings.
The evolving practice of calling upon the husband to pay maintenance to neglected women and children when considering bail, and the need for an equitable consideration and the petitioner's reasonable....
Bail conditions under Section 438 of the CrPC must relate directly to the availability of the appellant for trial and not include unrelated stipulations like maintenance payments.
The development of the law to address the plight of neglected women and children, and the importance of the petitioner taking a reasonable stand on their own in cases involving the imposition of cond....
Bail cannot be cancelled solely for failing to comply with mediation terms; substantial evidence is required for cancellation.
Onerous conditions cannot be imposed as a precondition for the grant of bail, and the conditions for bail must be reasonable and just, as established by various judgments.
The court emphasized that bail conditions should serve the purpose of securing public money and should be appropriate to the facts and circumstances of the case.
Bail conditions must be reasonable and not excessively burdensome, as imposing onerous conditions can infringe upon the fundamental rights of the accused under Article 21 of the Constitution.
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