HYAT MOHD SHOUKAT Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This application has been filed on behalf of the applicant under section 439 of the Cr.P.C. for an offence under section 380 of the IPC, registered vide Crime No.405/2016, at P.S. G.R.P, Bhopal.

(2.) The applicant is in judicial custody since 18/07/16 in the aforesaid case. The offence he is charged of is Section 380 IPC for which there is no minimum sentence and maximum sentence can extend up to 7 years rigorous imprisonment. It is an offence triable by the Court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class. It is relevant to state here that this is the first application for grant of bail that has been filed before this Court

(3.) This Court carefully went through the rejection order dismissing the bail application of the applicant by the Court of the learned 15th ASJ, Bhopal. It is relevant to mention here that the first application for grant of bail was moved before the learned Court below in March 2020, which is a little more than 3 1/2 years after the arrest of the applicant in the aforementioned case, which shows that the applicant may not have had the financial and legal wherewithal of approaching even the District Court on an earlier date. While dismissing the said application vide order dated 6.3.2020, the learned 15th ASJ Bhopal observes [1] This clearly reveals that the investigation is still in progress against the applicant despite the passage of 3 1/2 years. The other reason which appears to have weighed in the mind of the learned court below is that the applicant is a native of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and that there is another case registered at P.S Pulwama, in Jammu and Kashmir under section 420, 467,468 and 471 IPC. No details of the said case have been reproduced in the order of the learned court below. Further, the learned Court below believed the applicant may abscond if enlarged on bail. Thereafter, the present application, being the first application before this Court, has been filed on 20/07/2020.