The Supreme Court today has denied interim bail to a man convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for committing dacoity with murder while rejecting the ground taken by him for grant of relief.
A two-judge bench of Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna held the reason for which applicant has moved this application for bail i.e. ‘there is no one to take care of his wife’ doesn’t survive now so he’s not entitled to be enlarged on bail.
The applicant/convict is presently serving life sentence in jail for committing the offence under Section 302, 392 & 396 of the Indian Penal Code. He has moved the aforesaid application on the ground that his wife is suffering from lung disease and there is no one to take care of her.
The Counsel appearing for the State has submitted that applicant was first released on the same ground on parole for one month from April 20, 2021 to May 19, 2021. Thereafter one-month extension was granted to him from May 19, 2021 to June 18, 2021. Thereafter, he moved 3rd application for parole on the same ground.
Petitioner’s counsel Nachiket Joshi has submitted that there is no one else to take care of applicant’s wife and she is suffering from lung problems as a post-Covid effect.
The State has countered this argument and brought it to the notice of the court that applicant has a son of age 35 years and that very fact is affirmed by the son himself on affidavit. The Court after going through the facts and circumstances dismissed the interim bail application of applicant with a liberty to approach court after a period of one year.
Background of the case
In fact, the present application was filed by the applicant in a already pending criminal appeal which lies before the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Gujarat High Court wherein Court had dismissed his plea against conviction under section 302, 392 and 396 under the Indian Penal Code. The High Court had appreciated the evidence and observed that the prosecution had proved case beyond reasonable doubt.
Complainant Vitthalbhai Kachrabhai Barot of Gadh Police Station of Palanpur Taluka lodged a complaint / FIR that his son Bharatbhai was driving Jeep and has been murdered. His dead body is lying in the field of one Nizam Khan at village Dangiya on Dantiwada road. While investigating, the police caught the accused persons who disclosed additional information along with weapons and blood stained clothes. The Additional Sessions judge convicted them under Section 302 read with 34, 397 and 396 but on appeal to session court, they were acquitted under the same but charged under section 392 and punished with 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. Dissatisfied by it, state appealed to the HC.
CASE NAME- THAKORE UMEDSINGH NATHUSINGH V. STATE OF GUJARAT