IMPORTANT POINT
The court affirmed that in cases triable by Magistrates, the discretion to grant bail should be exercised liberally, emphasizing the presumption of innocence and the importance of not prolonging detention without just cause.

ORDER :

FARJAND ALI, J.

1. The jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked by way of filing an application under Section 439 Cr.P.C. at the instance of accused-petitioner. The requisite details of the matter are tabulated herein below:

2. It is contended on behalf of the accused-petitioner that no case for the alleged offences is made out against him and his incarceration is not warranted. There are no factors at play in the case at hand that may work against grant of bail to the accused-petitioner and he has been made an accused based on conjectures and surmises. Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that the co-accused Mahendra, Jugal, Naresh and Rahul have already been enlarged on bail by this Court. He further submits that case of the petitioner is not distinguishable with those of the case of the aforesaid co-accused who have already been enlarged on bail.

3. Contrary to the submissions of learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Public Prosecutor opposes the bail application and submits that the present case is not fit for enlargement of accused on bail.

4. I have considered the submissions made by both the parties and have perused the material available on record. The case is triable by Magistrate in which, after investigation, charge sheet has been filed against him.

5. Dealing with an identical issue in which offence are exclusively triable by the Court of Magistrate, this Court vide order dated 07.10.2023, has made an elaborate discussion in the matter of Dharmendra Vs. State of Rajasthan passed in S.B. Criminal Misc. Bail Application No.11484/2023. The relevant part is being reproduced herein below:-

“6. It is noticed that all the offences alleged against the petitioner as contained in the charge-sheet are triable by a Court of Magistrate. It is run of the mill for High Courts as well as Hon’ble the Apex Court to grant bail in cases concerning offences that are triable by Magistrate. It is deemed imperative by this Court to enunciate and elaborate upon the theory and reasoning owing to which it is justifiable to grant bail under Section 439 of CrPC in matters involving commission of offences triable by Magistrate.

7. The jurisprudence begins right from Section 437 of the Code which is the sole provision in the entirety of criminal statutory literature that provides for grant of bail as Section 439 of CrPC merely preserves and recognizes the special powers of the Session Courts and High Courts to grant bail which leads to the logical inference that the discretion vested in the Magistrates is exclusive. Moreover, there is nothing prescribed in Section 439 that talks about bail jurisprudence/ granting or refusing of a bail plea on any specific ground; it is just recognition of power of the upper Courts.

8. Section 437 CrPC talks about the circumstances when bail can be granted in cases where non-bailable offences are alleged to have been committed. It states that when any person who is accused of or suspected of commission of a non-bailable offence is arrested or detained; is brought before the Court of a Magistrate; or appears before the Court of a Magistrate, such person may be released on bail except in two conditions; the first condition being that if reasonable grounds appear for believing that such person has been guilty of committing an offence which is punishable by death or life imprisonment, he shall not be released on bail and the second condition being that if the offence alleged to have been committed by such person is a cognizable offence and if he had been convicted of an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for seven years or