Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Mr. A.P.S. Pakka, Advocate
For the Respondent: Mr. Akshay Kumar, AAG, Punjab

JUDGMENT :

Kuldeep Tiwari, J.

Through the instant petition, the petitioners craves for indulgence of this Court for his being enlarged on regular bail, in case FIR No. 168 dated 11.12.2023, under Section 395 of IPC, under Section 25 of the Arms Act (under Section 336 of IPC, was added later on), registered at Police Station Raman, District Bathinda. 

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE PETITIONERS

2. The instant FIR was registered on the statement of the complainant Ramchander Singh s/o Hari Singh r/o Village Bhagiwandar, District Bathinda, inter alia alleging therein, that on the date of occurrence, he along with his salesman Satpal Singh & Sony went to sleep in the cabin constructed on the petrol pump, at about 12:30 a.m at night, two identified persons knocked the cabin, and on the pretext of purchasing oil in a bottle, the complainant, Satpal Singh & Sony opened the door, then the said two unidentified persons entered into their cabin, and along with them two other persons came along holding takuas in their hands, and one person who was armed with pistol, entered into the cabin. All the said persons threatened the complainant, Satpal Singh & Sony, that if they raise their voice, they will be killed, and they were made to sit in a comer, and two persons stood by them with weapons, and other persons took the cash amount from the drawer of the table. Thereafter, the said persons left while threatening them, and they also made a fire in the air, and fled away from the spot, in a car. It was found that they have taken away Rs.95,600/-.

SUBMISSIONS OF LEARNED COUNSEL FOR THE PETITIONERS

3. The learned counsel for the petitioners, in his asking for the hereinabove extracted relief, has made the following submissions

(i) Petitioners have been falsely implicated in the present case;

(ii) There is unexplained delay of 15 hours in lodging the aforesaid FIR;

(iii) The petitioners are not involved in any other criminal case;

(iv) Petitioners have suffered incarceration of more than 04 months, as on today.

(v) Out of the total 20 prosecution witnesses cited in the final report, none has been examined so far.

SUBMISSIONS OF THE LEARNED STATE COUNSEL

4. Per contra, the learned State counsel, who is in receipt of advance notice, has placed on record the custody certificate of the petitioners, as issued by the Central Jail Bathinda. The same is taken on record. A perusal of the custody certificate reveals that the petitioners have suffered incarceration of 04 months and 23 days, as on today. A perusal of the custody certificate further reveals that the petitioners are not involved in any other criminal case. Learned State counsel on instructions, imparted to him by ASI Gyan Chand, submits that after conclusion of the investigation, the final report under Section 173 Cr.P.C., had already been filed on 07.02.2024, but the charges are yet to be framed. Learned State counsel further submits that out of the total 20 prosecution witnesses cited in the final report, none has been examined till date.

ANALYSIS

5. Before embarking upon the process of evaluating the arguments addressed by the learned counsels for the parties and penning down any opinion upon the instant petition, it is deemed imperative to capture an overview of some significant legal propositions.

6. "Bail is the Rule and Jail is an Exception This basic principle of criminal jurisprudence was laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, way back in 1978, in its landmark judgment titled "State of Rajasthan V. Balchand alias Baliay", 1977 AIR 2447,1978 SCR (1) 535. This principle finds its roots in one of the most distinguished fundamental rights, as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Though the underlying objective behind detention of a person is to ensure easy availability of an accused for trial, without any inconvenience, however, in case the presence of an accused can be secured otherwise, then detention is not compulsory.

7. The right to a speedy trial is one of the rights of a detained person.