Case Law Details
Ranjit Singh Vs State of Haryana (Punjab and Haryana HC)
This Court is of the opinion that since the maximum punishment which can be awarded is upto 5 years and the petitioner has almost undergone a period of one year having been arrested on 06.09.2019. The onerous conditions would thus violate Article 21 of the Constitution of India as the liberty of the petitioner is being deprived. It is settled principle that bail is the rule and jail is the exception and mere seriousness of the charge is not a factor to be taken into account while denying the valuable right of liberty. The basic principle being the man is innocent till he is found guilty. The factum of the investigation being complete and enquiry having been completed and the relevant documents being in possession of the prosecution, the petitioner thus cannot be detained during the trial only on account of the fact that a bail order in the form of a recovery proceedings has been passed against him to pay the outstanding worth almost Rs. 2 crores along with interest.
The Learned Additional Sessions Judge though came to a finding that the offence would be for liability of M/s Maa Karni Yarns for Rs.1,94,78,017/- which would thus make the offence bailable under Section 69(3) and Section 132(4) but inspite of that imposed the onerous condition which has led to the petitioner continuing to be in incarceration. The said condition thus suffers from the vice of unreasonability and cannot stand the test of judicial scrutiny in view of the law discussed above.
Accordingly, the present petition is accepted. The condition of payment of Rs.1,94,78,017/- along with interest is set aside. The bail bonds of Rs.50 lakhs with one surety are reduced to Rs.25 lakhs which shall be in the form of immoveable property, to the satisfaction of the Ilaqa/Duty Magistrate, Panipat. The order of the Addl.Sessions Judge dated 08.04.2020 (Annexure P-2) is, accordingly, modified, whereas the other conditions shall remain intact.
FULL TEXT OF THE HIGH COURT ORDER /JUDGEMENT
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