Karnataka High Court: The single Judge Bench of S. Vishwajith Shetty, J.*, on 4-9-2024 granted bail to 4 accused persons charged for their alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017. The accused persons were charged for offences punishable under Sections 302, 120-B, 118, 203 & 35 of Penal Code, 1860; Sections 25(1) & 27(1) of the Arms Act, 1959, and Sections 3(1)(i), 3(2), 3(3) & 3(4) of the Karnataka Control of Organized Crimes Act, 2000 (COCA Act).
Background:
Gauri Lankesh, was a journalist and a progressive thinker, was residing alone in a house at Rajarajeshwari Nagar. A week prior to the unfortunate killing, the deceased had come to the house of her sister (complainant) and informed her that somebody was moving around her house in a suspicious manner.
On 5-9-2017, the deceased was found in her house in a blood pool and suspected of being shot. Hence, the complainant approached the police on the same day and lodged a complaint, which had resulted in registering FIR against unknown persons.
During the investigation, accused persons in the instant petition were produced before the Trial Court and remanded to judicial custody. The bail application filed by them before the Trial Court was also rejected. Hence the accused persons filed the instant petition before the High Court seeking regular bail.
Court’s Assessment:
It was noted that the accused persons in the instant petition were not present at the spot of crime on the date of incident. The allegation against them is regarding conspiring with the other accused persons and facilitating the commission of crime by arranging vehicles, firearms, etc.
The Court further noted that similar allegations were made against 4 more accused persons involved in the incident and they were granted bail considering that they were incarcerated for 6 years.
The Court emphasised on the recent rulings of the Supreme Court in Jalaluddin Khan v. Union of India, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 1945, wherein the Court had emphasised on “bail is the rule, jail is an exception”; and Manish Sisodia v. Directorate Enforcement, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 1920, wherein the Supreme Court observed that, “prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial”.
Therefore, taking note of the similarities between previous set of accused persons and the accused persons in the instant petition, the Court directed the respondent to enlarge the accused persons on bail subject to the following conditions-
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Accused persons shall execute personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- each with two sureties for the like sum, to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court;
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Accused persons shall appear regularly on all the dates of hearing before the Trial Court unless the Trial Court exempts their appearance for valid reasons;
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Accused persons shall not directly or indirectly threaten or tamper with the prosecution witnesses;
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Accused persons shall not involve in similar offences in future;
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Accused persons shall not leave the jurisdiction of the Trial Court without permission of the said Court until the case registered against them is disposed of
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In the event the accused persons violate any one of the aforesaid bail conditions, prosecution will be at liberty to seek cancellation of their bail.
[Bharat Jayawant Kurane v. State of Karnataka, 2024 SCC OnLine Kar 83, decided on 4-9-2024]
*Order by Justice S. Vishwajith Shetty
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For petitioners: Amar Correa, Adv; Aruna Shyam, Sr. Counsel for Divya R.B, Adv
For State: Ashok N. Naik, Spl. P.P
Buy Penal Code, 1860 HERE
