Uttarakhand High Court denies bail to 5 men accused of lynching boy

Read order: Nar Singh & Ors. vs. State of Uttarakhand

LE Staff

Nainital, July 27, 2021: The Uttarakhand High Court has rejected the bail plea by five persons accused of lynching a boy after he was found meeting a girl in their village. 

The Single Judge Bench of Justice Ravindra Maithani observed that it is definitely a case of mob lynching of the young boy who was brutally beaten and there is no room for bail for such offences.

The High Court also came down heavily on the police officer, who instead of providing medical aid to the boy confined him to the police station. The Bench directed the Superintendent of Police, Almora to examine the role of the erring police officer in not following the instructions of the doctor who had provided first aid to the victim. 

The incident took place when one Deepa Pandey called the deceased Bhuwan Chandra to her village. Both of them were good friends and the deceased along with his friends, Kailash and Lalit Singh, visited Deepa’s village on a motorcycle. When they met up at the Government Inter College, the accused surrounded Bhuwan Chandra and Deepa and assaulted them. 

The HC was also informed that in order to implicate Bhuwan, the victim of lynching, an FIR was also lodged by a co-accused and the police was called to the spot, who then arrested Bhuwan and his injured friend Kailash. Later, Bhuwan’s health started deteriorating due to the beating given to him by the applicants and co-accused, and subsequently, he died. 

Acting upon the complaint filed by the brother of the deceased, an FIR was lodged for offences u/s 323, 504, 506, 147, 149 and 304 IPC. 

The High Court observed that when the young boy was beaten mercilessly and was handed over to the police, they got him examined medically. However, at the same time, they failed to follow the treatment and also did not go for investigation. 

“It appears that instead of proceeding further to provide medical aid to Bhuwan Chandra Joshi, he was confined in the Police Thana. The doctors who conducted post-mortem of the deceased Bhuwan Chandra have categorically stated that he died of head injury. Dr. Chanchal Singh Marchal and Dr. Akhilesh Kumar, both have stated it to the Investigating Officer,” found the High Court.

The High Court, therefore, ordered Superintendent of Police, Almora to examine the role of the erring police official, particularly as to why the x-ray was not done when the deceased Bhuwan Chandra was examined at the community health centre (CHC) Dhauladevi and the doctor advised for X-ray. 

The High Court also asked the Superintendent to examine as to why without further investigation as suggested by the doctor, deceased Bhuwan Chandra was lodged in police station. 

Accordingly, the High Court doubted the intention of the police authorities and placed reliance on the injuries sustained by the deceased. 

Tagging the present case to be a case of mob lynching, Justice Maithani expressed that there is no room for bail for such a heinous offence where merciless assault has led to the death of a young boy.