Punjab & Haryana High Court declines bail in murder case of inmate inside jail premises

Read Order: PRITAM SINGH @ BHOLU v. STATE OF PUNJAB  

LE Correspondent

Chandigarh, July 12, 2021: Denying the bail plea to a murder accused, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has observed that mere custody in itself would not be the lone factor in granting bail.

The High Court was hearing a case pertaining to the death inside jail premises of an inmate, Livtar Singh, who died due to strangulation. On the basis of a letter sent by the Central Jail, Ludhiana, an FIR was registered in the said incident, under Sections 302 read with 34 IPC and thereafter, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted. The matter is now in trial.

As per the case details, drugs were brought in the jail by hiding them in the rectum of the now deceased, Livtar Singh. The petitioner in the present bail plea, Pritam Singh @ Bholu, and two more accused, i.e., Shakti @ Bhura and Sunny Khural @ Machhi, along with Livtar Singh had gone to the toilet to consume drugs where Livtar Singh was strangulated.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the petitioner is in custody since 26 April, 2019 and no specific role has been attributed to him. He further submitted that no CCTV footage of the incident is available with the prosecution and he also pointed out the contradiction in the chargesheet presented.

On the other hand, the State counsel opposed the bail plea stating that there are two pending trials against the petitioner and she also refuted the contradiction relied upon by the petitioner’s counsel. She further submitted that it was a case of death of an inmate within the jail premises and all through, the word ‘we’ is used in the report which includes the involvement of the petitioner also.

Dismissing the bail plea, Justice Avneesh Jhingan held that the allegations and facts of the case — which involves the allegation of murder, use of drugs in jail, movement of drugs from outside into jail, the pendency of two cases against the petitioner — are an indicator of his antecedents. 

The Bench further observed: “Mere custody in itself would not be alone factor to grant bail. The contradiction as pointed out by the counsel for the petitioner in the challan would be the subject matter of the trial and the contention that there is no CCTV footage of incident is noted to be rejected, as strangulation was in toilet.”