The legal position established that the accused should not be detained by way of punishment, and the material witnesses cannot be expected to be won over by the accused.

JUDGMENT :

1. By this common order, I would like to dispose of the aforesaid two (2) bail applications bearing Nos. 110/2022 & 111/2022 as both of them arise out of common FIR No. 06/2020 registered with Police Station Basantgarh (District Udhampur) for commission of offences u/ss 306/382/147 IPC. Petitioners/accused have claimed bails on the grounds, that they are citizens of India and permanent residents of UT of J&K therefore are entitled to invoke the jurisdiction of this court for protection of his fundamental rights including the right to their liberties and freedom guaranteed to them under the constitution of India, they are law abiding citizens and have not committed any crime but have been wrongly and falsely implicated in the aforesaid FIR for commission of offences u/ss 302/382/323/341 & 147 of IPC by Police Station Basantgarh, Ld. Trial Court has framed charges against them for commission of offences punishable u/ss 306/382 IPC for abetment of suicide and theft, the allegations against them are that they alongwith some other persons are involved in murderous assault on one Shiv Raj who has not been traced so far or found alive, on completion of investigation charge sheet has been presented in the trial court of Principal Sessions Judge Udhampur wherein after framing of the charges all the independent witnesses including eyewitnesses have been recorded and none of them have depose anything against them for their involvement in the commission of crime as cursory look to the statements of eyewitnesses make it clear that they have not committed any offence, they are facing incarceration for more than 1 year for no fault of theirs, they are only the bread earners of their families, they had filed bail applications before the trial court which were rejected on 11.03.2022 by the trial court without properly appreciating the legal position, the trial in the case is not likely to be concluded in near future as such their bail applications deserve to be considered, grant of bail is a general rule and refusal is exception, they undertake that they will not jump over the bail nor will temper with the prosecution evidence and will remain present before trial court on each and every date of hearing.

2. Respondents have opposed the bails on the grounds, that on 02.06.2020 at about 1600 hours accused persons hatched a conspiracy and with their criminal common intention they stopped the way of complaint Rishi Kumar, started beating him with kicks and fists, uncle of the complainant namely Shiv Raj ran away from the spot due to fear and accused persons armed with sticks/lathies chased the complainant, thereafter, accused persons while beating Shiv Raj forcibly dragged him towards Tawi River with intention to kill him and openly said that Shiv Raj is the eldest among them and they will kill him and after sometime accused came back but Shiv Raj was not with them. It is contended, that a SIT headed by SDPO Ramnagar Dy. SP Gharu Ram was constituted on the directions of DIG Udhampur Reasi Range and during investigation, search of Shiv Kumar was conducted by divers of SDRF in Tawi River, Dog Squad, Police Party & VDCs, the drowns were also used to retrieve the dead body of deceased Shiv Raj but all in vain, consequently, accused persons was arrested and during enquiry they confessed that Shiv Raj was killed by them and they threw him in Tawi River. It is moreso contended, that during search of dead body of Shiv Raj, blood stained clay, piece of flesh was found underneath the hill, which was seized on spot and sent to FSL for expert opinion, lie detector test of accused was conducted at FSL Jammu and as per the statements of witnesses u/ss 161/164-A Cr.P.C. and lie detector test of accused persons & FSL report, offences u/ss 302/364/382/341/323/141/201 IPC were prima-facie established against accused persons, whereafter, challan was produced in the court of JMIC Ramnagar which was committed to the court of Pr. Sessions Judge Udhampur. It is