Second or successive bail petitions are maintainable when substantial changes in circumstances occur; however, public safety and the gravity of the offence must be prioritized.

JUDGMENT :

SUMEET GOEL, J.

CRM-37580-2025

This is an application under Section 528 of the BNSS for placing on record entire zimni orders documents in compliance of the order dated 11.09.2025 earlier passed by this Court.

For the reasons stated therein, the application in hand is allowed. The documents are taken on record as Annexures A-1 to A-31. Registry to page-mark the paper-book accordingly.

CRM-M-49857-2025

1. The present petition is the third attempt under Section 483 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter to be referred as ‘the BNSS ’) for grant of regular bail to the petitioner in FIR No.0178 dated 01.11.2023 registered under Sections 279 , 304, 427 of IPC and Section 181 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 at Police Station Pasyana, District Patiala.

2. The gravamen of the FIR in question pertains to an incident which occurred on account of rash and negligent driving. The complainant namely Jagmail Singh stated that he is a retired teacher from the Education Department, Punjab and his wife Namely Mohinder Kaur aged about 53 years is posted as Clerk in the Electricity Board, Thermal Plant, Bathinda. As per complainant, he has two children i.e. daughter namely Satvir Kaur aged 26 years and son namely Arshdeep Singh aged about 24 years, who is an MBBS student at Government Medical College and Rajinder Hospital, Patiala. The complainant alleged that on 31.10.2023 at about 05.30 P.M., he left the home with his son namely Arshdeep Singh in the car bearing Registration No.PB-03-BJ-9407 for Patiala which was being driven by Arshdeep Singh. At about 08:30 P.M., they stopped the car on the roadside near Prabhlahan flyover on Sangrur-Patiala road to urinate. While returning, as the son of the complainant namely Arshdeep Singh opened the door of the car to sit inside, a speeding truck bearing Registration No.PB- 11-BY-0355 (TATA 3118C) coming from the Sangrur side hit the parked car from behind. The said speeding truck crushed the son of the complainant under its wheel, killing him on the spot. Thereafter, the said truck was stopped a short distance away. On hearing the impact, people gathered at the spot and caught the driver, who was heavily drunk. On enquiry, the driver of the truck disclosed himself as Jagtar Singh s/o Kirpal Singh, resident of Bakshiwala, P.S. Rajpura (petitioner herein). However, he soon fled from the scene of occurrence leaving his truck behind. The complainant alleged that due to the reckless and intentional act of the truck driver and under the influence of the liquor, his son namely Arshdeep Singh lost his life. On these set of allegations, the instant FIR was registered.

3. The petitioner had earlier applied for grant of regular bail before this Court which was dismissed as withdrawn on 24.01.2025. The relevant part of said order reads as under:-

“After arguing at length, learned counsel for the petitioner wishes to withdraw the instant petition, at this stage.

Dismissed as withdrawn, at this stage.”

Thereafter, the petitioner had again approached this Court for grant of regular bail which also stands dismissed as withdrawn on 05.05.2025, relevant whereof reads as under:

“After arguing at length, learned counsel for the petitioner wishes to withdraw the instant petition, at this stage.

Dismissed as withdrawn, at this stage.

All other pending applications, if any, are also disposed off, accordingly”

The present petition i.e. the third petition for grant of regular bail has been preferred by the petitioner on and around 04.09.2025.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner has iterated that the petitioner is a senior citizen aged about 70 years and was around 68 years old at the time of alleged occurrence. Learned counsel for the petitioner has further iterated that it is highly improbable for the petitioner to have fled from the clutches of the complainant and the crowd gathered at the spot as alleged in the FIR. Learned counsel has further submitted that in the FIR it was alleged that the truck of the pet