Point of Law: Grant of bail - when a co-accused has been granted bail by the High Court, then it would be justified to grant bail to another accused who is in Jail for more than one year.

ORDER :

Petitioners herein are accused in case FIR No. 44 of 2020, dated 2.6.2020, registered under Sections 452, 147, 148, 149, 323, 325, 504, 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), in Police Station Shillai, District Sirmour, H.P.

2. As per status report, on 2.6.2020, telephonic information was received in Police Station, Shillai from Medical Officer, Community Health Centre (CHC), Shillai that a person injured in a quarrel had been brought for treatment in CHC. The said information was reduced into writing as GD No. 004, dated 2.6.2020 at 7:36 A.M. and Head Constable Naveen Kumar along with Constable Gaurav was sent to CHC Shillai, who in CHC had recorded statement of complainant Kiran, an eye witness, under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.), wherein she had stated that on 31.5.2020, on path approaching cowshed of her Chacha Sasur (father-in-law) Chander Singh, cemented concrete was laid to stop the rainy water entering therein, and on 2.6.2020 at about 6:30 A.M., when she was working in kitchen, accused Rajinder, Kuldeep, Varinder, Amit, Balbir, Hitesh, Harvinder and Lal Singh came to their house and started questioning her father-in-law Bishan (now deceased), about reason for raising cemented edge of the path, whereupon her father-in-law had replied that it had been done to stop rainy water from entering the cowshed of Chander Singh. Thereafter, accused persons started abusing her father-in-law and dragged him outside the house and started beating him. At that time petitioner Rajinder and Varinder were having iron rod and iron pipe, respectively and others were having dandas in their hands. Upon this her Taya Sasur Partap Singh and Chacha Sasur Chander Singh had come on spot to save her father-in-law Bishan. Accused persons had beaten them also and, thereafter, all accused left the place and in this incident her father-in-law Bishan received injuries on his head, ear and other parts of body and Taya Sasur Partap Singh in his head and hand and Chacha Sasur Chander Singh in his head. On the basis of statement of complainant, recorded at about 9:10 A.M., ruka was prepared and sent to the Police Station for registration of FIR and FIR was registered.

3. It is apparent from record produced by Police that during intervening time, co-accused Amit and Kuldeep had approached the Police Station at 8:53 A.M. and submitted an application to the SHO, stating therein that on 2.6.2020, Kuldeep Singh, on waking up at about 6-6:30 A.M., saw that in ancestral path approaching their house, with the help of wooden planks, concrete had been laid, resulting into closure of their path, which earlier was also obstructed by Chander Singh and his brother. So, Kuldeep Singh questioned Chander Singh about reason for doing so, who at that time was sowing crop in his field situated adjacent to house of Kuldeep Singh, whereupon Chander Singh started arguing with him and on hearing noise of altercation, his brother Bishan Singh, Pratap Singh, Swaran Singh and his nephews Dinesh alongwith Sunita, Kamla Devi, Nisha Devi, Seema Devi had also come to the spot near his house and started quarreling with him. Dinesh was having danda in his hand and he hit the head of Kuldeep Singh with the same from behind, whereupon Amit, brother of Kuldeep Singh, on hearing noise, had come to rescue Kuldeep Singh but he (Amit) was also pulled down by Chander Singh and Bishan Singh, causing him injuries in his leg and body. According to Kuldeep Singh, persons namely Netar Singh, Giar Singh, Bansi, Vinod, Narender Singh etc. had come on the spot and had rescued them from Chander Singh etc. and in this incident Kuldeep Singh had received injuries on his head and his brother Amit had received injuries in legs and other parts of body. On the basis of this complaint of Kuldeep Singh, FIR No. 43 of 2020, dated 2.6.2020 was registered under Sections 147, 148, 149, 451, 323 and 341 IPC.

4. Injured Bishan (now deceased) was referred from CHC Shillai to Civil Hospital, Paont