Mahipal Vs Rajesh Kumar @ Polia & Anr. (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court of India considered a batch of criminal appeals challenging an order of the Rajasthan High Court that had granted bail to the accused in a case involving allegations of murder. The appeals were filed by the original complainant against the grant of bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Since the factual background and legal issues were identical across the connected matters, the Supreme Court disposed of all appeals through a common judgment.
The case arose from an FIR lodged on 3 December 2018 concerning the death of the complainant’s nephew. According to the FIR, the deceased was assaulted by several accused persons armed with rods and dandas following an initial altercation. After sustaining serious injuries, the deceased was taken to a local hospital and later referred to a hospital in Jaipur, where he was declared dead. The post-mortem report recorded twenty-seven ante-mortem injuries, including seven head injuries, and opined that death was caused by coma resulting from ante-mortem head injuries inflicted within six hours prior to death.
Following investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against five accused under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, and 397 of the Indian Penal Code. The Judicial Magistrate took cognizance and committed the matter to the Sessions Court. The Sessions Court rejected the bail application. However, the High Court subsequently granted bail, noting the submissions of the accused and stating briefly that it was just and proper to enlarge the accused on bail without expressing any opinion on the merits.
