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Judgment
Bechu Kurian Thomas, J.
Petitioner challenges one of the conditions imposed in the order granting bail.
Petitioner is the accused in crime No.194/2023 of Peroorkkada Police Station. The offences alleged are under Sections 294(b), 341 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
By order dated 03.03.2023, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Thiruvananthapuram granted regular bail to the petitioner on conditions. The final portion of the order reads as follows :-
“The petition is allowed and the petitioner shall execute a bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh only) with two solvent sureties, for the like sum each to the satisfaction of the Judicial Magistrate Court concerned, subject to the following conditions :-
(1) One of the sureties must be a near relative and the surety must produce his/ her title deed of the property before the Court”.
Though five other conditions have also been stipulated, petitioner is aggrieved by condition No.1, which is extracted above. According to the petitioner, due to the peculiar situation, he is unable to produce a surety, who is a near relative and to produce his or her title deed of the property.
Sri.Gopakumar B.Thaliyal, the learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the insistence on conditions which are incapable of performance practically tantamounts to refusal of bail and therefore such conditions ought not to be imposed by the court. He relied on the decisions in Sandeep Jain v. National Capital Territory of Delhi [(2002) SCC 66] and that of Guddan @Roop Narayan v. State of Rajasthan [2023 (1) KHC 418], wherein the Supreme Court had held that the conditions which are incapable of performance ought not to be imposed while granting bail.
It is trite that unreasonable conditions cannot be imposed by the court while granting bail. The purpose of imposing conditions is not to bind the accused to a property or as a measure of recovery of money. Production of original title deeds of sureties is not a reasonable condition to be imposed under the circumstances. Similarly, insistence on a near relative to act as one of the sureties also can be a condition that is incapable of performance when near relatives are unavailable or unwilling to act as sureties. The purpose to be served by insisting on a near relative to be a surety and to have his or her title deed to produce before the court remains unknown. It is incomprehensible as to the purpose for incorporating such a condition in the present case. No reasons are also stated for including such harsh conditions.
In the above circumstances, I am satisfied that condition No.1 imposed in the order dated 03.03.2023 in Crl.M.C.No.460/2023 on the files of the Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram is irregular, improper and is liable to be interfered with. Ordered accordingly. All other conditions imposed in the bail order shall remain intact.
The Crl.M.C.is allowed as above.