AMIT JHA Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In relation to FIR No.41/2015, dated 2.3.2015, registered at Police Station, Dehra, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, accused-petitioner stands charged for having committed offences, punishable under Sections 364A, 420, 342, read with Sec. 120B of the Indian Penal Code, and Sec. 66-D of the IT Act, 2000. Such FIR came to be registered on the basis of complaint made by Arvind Singh that on the pretext of getting employment in a foreign country, present petitioner Amit Jha along with his co-accused Tarsem Singh, made him travel to Delhi, from where he was taken to Bagdogra and forced to part with a sum of Rs. 22 lakhs. Not only he stood duped, as the promises turned out to be false, but at Bagdogra, kept in confinement and physically assaulted.

(2.) Accused-petitioner seeks bail on the grounds (a) witnesses so far examined by the prosecution do not establish the charged offences; (b) has been in custody for more than a year; (c) stands falsely implicated; (d) investigation is complete and nothing else is required to be recovered; (e) he is a permanent resident of Himachal Pradesh, and that (f) is a student and has a bright career. In support, learned counsel for the petitioner seeks reliance upon the following observations made by the apex Court in Sanjay Chandra Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation, (2012) 1 SCC 40:

(3.) Significantly, in Sanjay Chandra (supra), the Court in Paras-39 & 40 itself has clarified that "the grant or refusal to grant bail lies within the discretion of the Court. The grant or denial is regulated, to a large extent, by the facts and circumstances of each particular case. But at the same time, right to bail is not to be denied merely because of the sentiments of the community against the accused. The primary purposes of bail in a criminal case are to relieve the accused of imprisonment, to relieve the State of the burden of keeping him, pending the trial, and at the same time, to keep the accused constructively in the custody of the Court, whether before or after conviction, to assure that he will submit to the jurisdiction of the Court and be in attendance thereon whenever his presence is required." (Emphasis supplied)