Bail conditions must be reasonable, not punitive; excessively burdensome requirements violate rights and lead to denial of bail.

ORDER

1. Rule returnable forthwith,. Learned APP waives service of notice of rule for and on behalf of the respondent-State.

2. By way of present application, applicant has requested to delete/modify the conditions No. 3 and 4 in the order dated 13.10.2022 and to delete condition no. 3 of the order dated 07.11.2022 imposed by the learned Principal District and Sessions Judge, Rajkot while releasing the applicant on regular bail in Criminal Misc. Application No. 2833 and 3183 of 2022 respectively.

3. Brief facts of the present case are as under:

3.1 That the applicant herein had preferred a bail application before the Ld. Principal District and Sessions Court, Rajkot (Designated Court) being Criminal Misc. Application No. 2833 of 2022 and the present applicant was released on bail vide order dated 13.10.2022 with certain terms and conditions, which read thus:- 3]

The applicant is directed to deposit Rs.7,42,70,000/- by way of cash with Nazir, District Court, Rajkot i.e. half of the amount which is found to be due to the paid to the investors by the applicant as per charge sheet within two weeks of his release from custody. However, the payment/disbursement shall be subject to the provisions of GPID Act and/or final decision of the trial.

4]

If the applicant fails to submit the afore mentioned cash amount within two weeks of his release from custody, he shall surrender before the Jail Authority on the fifteenth day and the jail authority shall report to this court about his surrender. In case the applicant does not surrender himself on the fifteenth day, the I.O. shall make him surrender to the Jail authority”

5. Learned advocate for the applicant by way of Criminal Misc.

Application No. 3183 of 2022 moved an application for deletion/modification of the conditions No. 3 and 4 of the order dated 13.10.2022 before the Principal District and Sessions Rajkot (Designated Court) and the Court was pleased to modify the said conditions, which are as under:-

2]

So far as the relief with regards to condition no. 4 imposed in Cr.M.A. No. 2833 of 2022 is concerned, the same is hereby rejected.

3]

The condition No. 3 imposed in Criminal Misc. Application No. 2833 of 2022 is hereby modified as under:

3]

The applicant is directed to deposit Rs.1,48,54,000/- (Rupees One Crore Forty Eight Lakhs Fifty Four Thousand Only) by way of cash with Nazir, District Court, Rajkot i.e. half of the amount, which is found to be due to be paid to the Investors by the applicant as per charge sheet, within Two Weeks of his release from custody.

However, the payment/disbursement shall be subject to the provisions of GPID Act and/or final decision of the trial.

7. On the other side, learned APP for the respondent-State has strongly objected the submissions made by learned advocate for the applicant and submitted that the applicant is involved in serious offence punishable under the provisions of Gujarat Protection of Interest of Depositors (In Financial Establishments) Act 2003 and thus, the condition about bank guarantee imposed by the learned trial court while releasing on bail is proper and thus, learned trial court has not committed any error in imposing such condition. That, the applicant has lured the investors and neither money nor interest were paid to them. That the applicant has played major role in the offence and thus, the prayer of modifying/deleting the condition as sought for may not be granted and ultimately, it was requested by learned APP for the respondent-State to reject present application.

8. Having heard learned advocate for the applicant and learned APP for the respondent-State and considering the averments made in the present application, it is