HASHIM Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Applications for regular bail under Section 439 of Cr.P.C.

(2.) The petitioners in B.A.No.2944/2020 are accused 1 and 2; while the petitioner in B.A.No.3029/2020 is the 5 th accused in Crime No.462/2020 of Vallikunnam Police Station for having allegedly committed the offences punishable under Sections 120(b), 109, 326 and 307 read with Section 34 of I.P.C.

(3.) The prosecution case can be encapsulated as thus: The defacto complainant, namely, Suhail Hassan, posted a critique regarding the functioning of the community kitchen and welfare pension of the Government in his Facebook, which infuriated the accused persons, to such an extent that they conspired to liquidate the defacto complainant. In furtherance of their common intention to murder the defacto complainant, on 21.04.2020 between 9 PM to 9.45 PM, while the defacto complainant was pillion riding a scooter driven by his friend Iqbal along the Tazhava Mukku-Choonad Road in Bharanikkavu Village at Vaisanadath Junction on the southern side of the road, the 1 st accused came riding a Dio Scooter from south to north with the 2 nd accused on the pillion and they attacked the defacto complainant with a weapon like sword stick on his neck, resulting in a fracture injury and thus attempted murder. He was admitted to the Alappuzha Vandanam Medical College and at about 12.10 AM his F.I.Statement was recorded by the police. On the basis of that statement, the crime was registered against two persons arraigned as accused 1 and 2. Copy of the F.I.R., which is produced by the petitioners, indicates that one Vishnu Asokan and Hilal are the persons arraigned as accused 1 and 2. Subsequently, the rank of the accused was altered and the petitioners in B.A.No.2944/2020 have been made as accused 1 and 2; while rank of the persons originally mentioned as accused 1 and 2 was altered as accused 3 and 4 respectively. That apart, two other accused were also implicated as part of the conspiracy. Accused 1 and 2 were arrested on 23.04.2020 and are in judicial custody ever since. The 5th accused had along with accused 3, 4 and 6 filed B.A.No.2546/2020 for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. However, while the said application was pending consideration, he was arrested on 30.04.2020 and he too is in judicial remand. Regular bail applications filed by all the aforesaid three accused under Section 439 of Cr.P.C. before the jurisdictional Magistrate at Kayamkulam were dismissed.