Point of Law: Rejection of Bail - Murder case - From the perusal of the evidence, collected during the investigation, it prima facie appears that the applicant was involved in this crime.

JUDGMENT :

Alok Kumar Verma, J.

This bail application has been filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in connection with F.I.R. No.461 of 2019, registered with Police Station-Rudrapur, District Udham Singh Nagar for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of I.P.C..

2. Facts, to the limited extent necessary, are that the informant Rinku Kashyap S/o Babu Ram lodged an F.I.R. against the present applicant-accused along with two co-accused persons, namely, Sukhnandan and Hardev, the brothers of the present applicant-accused.

According to the F.I.R., on 01.09.2019, the informant was going to his house with his brother Prem Shankar (deceased) on his Super Splendor motor cycle, bearing Registration No. UK-06 AQ-2438. They reached near Balmiki temple at around 8.30 p.m. Sukhpal, the present applicant-accused, was standing in the middle of the road. The applicant Sukhpal was asked to move out of the road. Sukhpal started misbehaving with him. Prem Shankar interrupted him, then, Sukhpal slapped Prem Shankar. One Chanchal of Diwakar Medical Store had intervened. The present applicant, Sukhpal and his two brothers Sukhnandan and Hardev brought weapons from Nandlal’s house. Sukhpal had a Patal, a sharp edged weapon, in his hand, a rod in Sukhnandan’s hand and a Gupti, a traditional swordstick dragger, in Hardev’s hand. They assaulted Prem Shankar. He (Prem Shankar) received grievous injuries. He fell on the ground drenched in blood. When Yogesh and other neighbors came to the scene of the incident, all three ran towards Nandlal’s house. The informant took his injured brother to the hospital with the help of Yogesh, but, Prem Shankar died on the way. The F.I.R. was registered at 23.00 hrs on 01.09.2019. The inquest proceeding and post-mortem examination were conducted. On 04.09.2019, the present applicant-accused was arrested along with the co-accused persons and at the instance of the present applicant-accused, a Patal, weapon used in commission of the crime, was recovered from the present applicant’s house in front of the independent witnesses of the public, Ram Babu and Suresh.

3. Heard Mr. Vikas Anand, the learned counsel for the applicant and Mr. V.S. Rathore, the learned A.G.A. for the State through video conferencing.

4. The learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant has been implicated in the present matter; no specific role of the applicant has been assigned in the F.I.R., the applicant was beaten by the deceased and his brother in which he received grievous injuries; the prosecution witness Chanchal also stated that the applicant received grievous injuries and he was taken to the hospital and at that time the deceased was alive; the act of the applicant was in self-defence, therefore, the act done in self-defence does not constitute any offence; the applicant lodged a complaint against the deceased and his brother on 02.09.2019, however, his complaint was not registered by the police; there are contradictions in the statements of the so called eye witnesses, recorded during the investigation, and the applicant is in custody since 04.09.2019.

5. On the other hand, Mr. V.S. Rathore, the learned counsel appearing for the State opposed the bail application. He submitted that the incident happened twice on the date 01.09.2019. The first incident took place when the informant was going to his house with his brother Prem Shankar (deceased) on his motor cycle. At that time, Prem Shankar was sitting behind on the motor cycle. The present applicant Sukhpal, was standing in the middle of the way. He was asked to move out of the way. Sukhpal started abusing on this. Prem Shankar asked Sukhpal why he abused. Then, Sukhpal slapped him. A fight broke out between these two. Meanwhile, the co-accused persons, namely, Sukhnandan and Hardev, had also come to the spot. Eye witness Chanchal of Diwakar Medical Store had intervened. The informant and his brother Prem Shankar had left their motor cycle at