TAHIR BASHIR SHEIKH & ANOTHER Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Aggrieved by the order dated 19.06.2017, of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sopore, whereby two applications for the grant of bail in favour of the applicants have been rejected, the applicants have knocked at the doors of this Court for seeking bail in their favour for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 302, 307, 34 RPC & 7/27 Arms Act.

(2.) In the application filed before this Court, the applicants have contended that they are facing trial in a case titled State v. Tahir Bashir Sheikh & Another, before the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sopore, for the commission of the offences detailed above. It has also been stated that the charge sheet has been laid before the Court in the month of November, 2015 and they have been put to trial. The statements of at least nine witnesses have already been recorded including the statements of the witnesses to the disclosure. They filed two bail applications before the trial Court which have been rejected by a common order dated 19.06.2017 and while rejecting the bail, the trial Court has referred to the report filed under Section 173 Cr. P.C and the statement of the PW1, as recorded during the investigation of the case, even though the statement of the PW1, had already been recorded by the Court. It is further stated that it is strange that the trial Court took a cue from the statement of the PW1, recorded during the investigation of the case in the order dated 19.06.2017, but did not make even a whisper of what this witness had stated before the Court while rejecting the applications for the grant of bail. The trial Court has decided the applications in a very casual and cavalier manner to the prejudice of the applicants and the only evidence available against the accused is the disclosure statement which has not been proved, as the statements of all the witnesses to the disclosure statement have already been recorded giving finality to the factual evidence of the case. The applicants are 21 years of age and have spent the crucial years of their life in prison and their further detention is not justified in the present circumstances of the case.

(3.) In their objections, the State has resisted the application of the applicants on the grounds, inter alia, that on 18.09.2015, the police authorities of Police Station, Bomai Sopore, received an information from a reliable source that some militants have fired upon Bashir Ahmad Bhat S/o Gh. Mohammad Bhat R/o Sogipora, as a result of which he gave up the ghost and his son, Burhan aged four years also sustained injuries in this episode. On the receipt of the aforesaid information, the authorities of the Police Station, Bomai Sopore, registered a case bearing FIR bearing No. 70/2015, for the commission of offences punishable under Sections 302, 307, 34 RPC 07/27 Arms Act, with which the investigation commenced. The injured Burhan was taken to SKIMS, Soura, where he succumbed to the injuries on the next day. The respondent State has proceeded to state that three cartridges were recovered from the spot and, accordingly, a seizer memo was prepared. The assailants/accused were riding on a motor cycle and they fled away from the spot. They hurled a grenade towards the persons, who tried to stop them but fortunately, the grenade did not explode and was recovered from the spot by the Bomb Disposal squad, who carried out its controlled explosion. The statements of the persons present on spot were recorded. The culpability of the applicants surfaced in the crime, the commission of which has been imputed to them. A charge sheet has been laid against the applicants. The trial of the case is going on in the Court of learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Sopore. The applicants are involved in a heinous crime, which is the rarest of rare and the grant of bail in favour of the applicants cannot be sustained at this stage. In the event of the grant of bail in favour of the applicants, there is every possibility that they will influence the prosecution witnesses and will turn the case in their favour. In the premises, it has been prayed that the application of the applicants be dismissed.