Ravi Paul vs State of Haryana

Mehinder Singh Sullar, J.—Petitioner Ravi Paul son of Suresh Paul, claiming himself to be a juvenile, has directed the instant revision petition for the grant of concession of regular bail, in a case registered against him along with his other co-accused, namely, Sonu and others, vide FIR No. 576 dated 17.12.2013(Annexure P1), on accusation of having committed an offence punishable u/s. 306 read with section 34 IPC (the offences punishable u/ss. 3(I)(iii) and 3(2)(iv) of the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 were later on added) by the police of Police Station Gharaunda, District Karnal.

Notice of the petition was issued to the State.

After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, going through the record with their valuable help and considering the entire matter deeply, to my mind, the present revision petition for regular bail deserves to be accepted in this context.

Concisely, the prosecution claimed that on 13.11.2013, some fight had taken place between complainant Rampal and his son Shivam on one side, with the petitioner and others on the other side, in which, both the parties received injuries. The matter was reported to the police. The police asked the parties to amicably settle the dispute before the panchayat. It was alleged that complainant, his son and nephew were abused and insulted in the panchayat. Thereafter, accused used to taunt them in this relevant direction. On 15.12.2013 at about 6 PM, the petitioner & his other co-accused chased Shivam. Subsequently, on 17.12.2013, he (Shivam) committed suicide and it was claimed that the accused have abetted the commission of offence. Taking into consideration, the crux of the allegations contained in the FIR, as to whether the provision of Section 306 IPC is attracted to the facts of the present case against the petitioner or not, inter alia, would be a moot point to be decided during the course of trial by the trial Court. It is not a matter of dispute that the petitioner has already been declared a juvenile, by virtue of order dated 21.5.2014 of Juvenile Justice Board.

Moreover, the petitioner was arrested on 10.3.2014. Since then, he is in judicial custody and no useful purpose would be served to further detain him in jail. Sunil alias Sonu and others, similarly situated co-accused of the petitioner, were granted the benefit of anticipatory bail, by way of order dated 12.5.2014, rendered by this Court in CRM No. M-9119 of 2014. In that eventuality, I see no reason not to extend the concession of regular bail to the present petitioner under the same set of circumstances. The final conclusion of trial will naturally take a long time.

In the light of aforesaid reasons, taking into consideration the totality of the facts & circumstances, emanating from the record, as depicted here-in-above and without commenting further anything on merits, lest it may prejudice the case of either side, during the course of trial of main case, the instant revision petition is hereby accepted. The petitioner is ordered to be released on bail on his furnishing adequate bail and surety bonds to the satisfaction of Juvenile Justice Board.

Needless to mention that nothing observed, here-in-above, would reflect on the merits of the main case, in any manner, as the same has been so recorded for the limited purpose of deciding the present revision petition for regular bail only.