Supreme Court: In an appeal against the judgment passed by Rajasthan High Court on 4-09-2023 denying bail to the accused for offences under Sections 143, 148, 149, 308, 323, 341, 447, 147, 148, 149, 447, 341, 323, 325 and 302 of the Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’), the Division Bench of Hrishikesh Roy and Sanjay Karol, JJ. granted bail to the petitioner who had been in custody for 5 years and 3 months.
It was indicated through the status of the trial that among the 18 witnesses, only 8 were examined, and 4 of the alleged eyewitnesses presented by the prosecution had turned hostile while not supporting the case against the accused. The petitioner had been in custody since 23-08-2018 despite being permanently disabled above 40% as per the Permanent Disability Certificate so produced. It was further alleged that there was no mention of any criminal antecedent against the petitioner.
Considering the several facts and circumstances and the petitioner being in custody for 5 years and 3 months as an undertrial prisoner and the less likelihood of the trial being concluded in near future, the Court deemed it appropriate to grant bail to the petitioner.
However, the Court directed the petitioner to cooperate in the early conclusion of the trial and not to interact with any of the witnesses in the instant case. It further kept it open for the Trial Court to impose additional conditions as considered necessary.
[Prithvi Singh v. State of Rajasthan, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1617, Order dated 30-11-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner: Advocate on Record Namit Saxena
For Respondent: Advocate Vidhan Vyas, Advocate Syed Haidar Shah, Advocate on Record Milind Kumar, Advocate on Record Avadh Bihari Kaushik, Advocate Prateek Goyal
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