In CRIMINAL PETITION No.2034/2022-KAR HC- Bail proceedings not punitive in nature, says Karnataka HC Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav [03-06-2022]

Read Order: Sri. Dawood v. The State of Karnataka 

LE Correspondent

Bengaluru, June 11, 2022: In a murder case where the accused had been involved in about three matters, the Karnataka High Court has enlarged him on bail and opined that the evidence of the witnesses and its appreciation is a matter best left to the trial proceedings.

While considering the bail petition of the accused pursuant to the proceedings where complaint had been registered under Sections 143, 147, 120(B), 448, 109, 114, 302, 212 r/w 149 of IPC, the Bench of Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav said, “The proceedings for bail cannot be treated to be punitive in nature.”

The prosecution had made out the case that one Smt. Afsat opened the door of her house thereby enabling entry of the petitioner-accused and another co-accused. After coming to know that one Iliyas was sleeping in the room, the accused entered the room of Iliyas and stabbed him  while the other accused held his hands.  Iliyas, later succumbed to injuries and died.

Observing that insofar as the appreciation of evidence of the witnesses was concerned, it would not be appropriate to enter into such appreciation at this stage in the present proceedings, the Bench also noticed that the petitioner had not violated any of the bail conditions in any of the matters where he had been enlarged on bail though he was stated to have been involved in several cases. The contention that antecedents couldnot be the sole factor for rejecting the bail petition was also accepted by the Bench in light of the judgment of the Apex Court in Prabhakar Tewari vs. State of U.P. 

Thus,the Bench kept certain aspects in view such as the evidence of eye witnesses was completed,  the petitioner had been in custody since 2018 and in other matters also, the petitioner had not violated any of the bail conditions. It was also affirmed that the present proceedings couldnot be construed to be punitive proceedings and so, the accused was granted bail but with some stringent conditions.