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Himachal Pradesh High Court · body

1984 DIGILAW 5 (HP)

YOGESH SETHI v. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

1984-01-20

H.S.THAKUR

body1984
JUDGMENT H.S. Thakur, J.—The aforesaid petitions have been filed under Section 439, Cr.P.C. on behalf of the petitioners for the grant of bail to them. Since all the petitioners are accused in the same occurrence, these petitions can conveniently be disposed of by a common order and judgment. 2. The relevant facts regarding the occurrence may be stated. 3. In his order of framing charge against the accused-persons, the learned Sessions Judge has reflected the prosecution version in short. It is pointed out that per prosecution, the case is that the building known as Pratap Niwas located in Sunny side Solan originally belonged to one Smt. Bachan Kaur It is alleged that late Itwari Lal was in possession of six rooms thereof. The remaining half portion was stated to be in possession of International Thermametre Factory who were tenants under the landlord. Later on, the said property was purchased by S/Shri Bhola Singh, Dalwara Singh, Harchand Singh Avtar Singh and Prakash Rana accused to the extent of l/5th share each, on 27th October, 1982 The mutations were attested and sanctioned on April 20, 1983. After the purchase of the said property, the accused persons wanted to evict late Shri Itwari Lal forcibly. A criminal case under Section 197/151 Cr.P.C. was instituted by the late Itwari Lal against Parkash Rana, Dalwara Singh and Har Chand Singh accused, which is still pending in the Court of General Assistant. Subsequently, another case under Sections 324, 504, 448, 506, 380 and 147, IPC was also instituted against some of the accused-persons which is pending decision in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Solan, on the complaint of Smt. Shital Devi: the daughter-in-law of late Itwari Lal. S/Shri Parkash Rana, Daiwara and Ranjit Kaur were impleaded as accused therein. Another criminal litigation at the behest of Shri Vyas Chodhary is also stated to be pending in the Court of Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Ludhiana against Itwari Lal and Ved Prakash, his son at the relevant time. S/Shri Parkash Rana, Daiwara and Ranjit Kaur were impleaded as accused therein. Another criminal litigation at the behest of Shri Vyas Chodhary is also stated to be pending in the Court of Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Ludhiana against Itwari Lal and Ved Prakash, his son at the relevant time. As such, the litigation between the parties showed that there was a bitter hostility between the deceased and some of the accused persons and they wanted to evict the deceased and his family members therefrom According to the prosecution, all the accused in the early hours of 31st of May, 1983 apart from one absconder, after forming an unlawful assembly, armed with deadly weapons like dandas, hockey sticks, G.I. Pipes, iron rods, swords and a gun attacked the deceased who was occupying a room in Pratap Niwas and broke open the door thereof, where he was sleeping. Other members of the family of the deceased were sleeping in another house. The accused persons are stated to have broken open the door of the said house also, besides having threatened them that they would be killed Some of the accused armed with lethal weapons also brandished swords, pierced them through the window, with a view to threaten the complainant-party. With this preparation, the accused-persons surrounded the entire area and threatened the members of the family to the effect that if they came out they would be done to death. The deceased was stripped naked and mercilessly beaten causing him as many as is injuries. The deseased was brought outside the room and was again beaten despite entreaties made by him to release him. The articles belonging to the deceased and their family members apart from their tenants were thrown out by some of the accused-persons under the protection of other accused, namely, Harchand Singh holding a gun in his hand, Pannu alias Dalwara accused holding a sword and some of the accused persons holding dandas in their hands, who were guarding the gate and the compound The deceased was shifted to District Civil Hospital, Solan where he succumbed to the injuries at about 8.30. A.M. on the same day. It is pointed out that no fatal injury has been attributed to any one of the accused-persons. 4. It is contended by the learned counsel for the petitioners that Sanjiv Kapoor and Yogesh Sethi have not been named in the FIR. A.M. on the same day. It is pointed out that no fatal injury has been attributed to any one of the accused-persons. 4. It is contended by the learned counsel for the petitioners that Sanjiv Kapoor and Yogesh Sethi have not been named in the FIR. Sanjiv Kapoor is stated to be aged about 19 years. 5. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that except for Harchand Singh who was armed with a gun and Pannu alias Dalwara who was armed with a sword, no other accused-persons were carrying any lethal weapons, except for blunt ones. It is further contended that the unlawful assembly as alleged was not constituted to commit the murder, and at the most the only object of the so-called unlawful assembly was to evict the deceased and the members of his family from the premises which were purchased by some of the accused-persons As such, it is contended that they cannot be supposed to have committed an offence under Section 302, IPC. 6. The accused-persons stand already charged under Sections 148, 149, 323, 325, 302, 427, 452, 460 and 506, IPC. Shri Harchand Singh besides the above offences has also been charged under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. 7. It is not disputed that the case is at the trial stage and the accused-persons stand already charged for the aforesaid offences. They are lodged in the judicial lock-up. No recovery is to be made from them now. 8. Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, I am of the view that Harchand Singh and Pannu alias Dalwara, who were armed with lethal weapons like a gun and a sword respectively, may not be released on bail at this stage. The other accused, namely, Yogesh Sethi, Sanjiv Kapoor, Jatinder Mohan, Bikar Singh, Sat Paul, Pritam Singh, Barbans Singh, Jagtar Singh and Vyas Choudhary are, however, ordered to be released on bail on their furnishing personal bonds in the sum of Rs. 10,000/- (Rs. ten thousand) each with one surety each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Sessions Judge, including Additional Sessions Judge Simla subject to the following conditions : (i) They shall not tamper with any prosecution evidence and shall also not make any threat, promise or inducement directly or indirectly dissuading any witness from making statement concerning the case. (ii) They shall not go outside the limits of District Solan and District Shimla without the prior permission of the learned Sessions Judge and without information to the S.H.O. Solan. (iii) They shall maintain peace and be of good behaviour at least till the final decision of the case. 9. In case any one or more of the above conditions are violated the order granting bail to the petitioners is liable to be cancelled. 10. The petitions are accordingly disposed of. Order accordingly.