The petitioner apprehended arrest under Section 147 IPC, “Punishment for rioting”, section 148, “Rioting, armed with a deadly weapon”, section 149, “Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offense committed in the prosecution of a common object”, section 341, “Punishment for wrongful restraint”, section 323, “Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt”, and sections 324, 448, 379, 302, 427, 354 of the Indian Penal Code. This is in connection with Muffasil PS Case No. 114 of 2021 dated 23.02.2021.
This judgment was given in the high court of Judicature at Patna by honorable Mr. Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah on the 6th of August 2021 in the case of Munni Devi and others versus the state of Bihar criminal miscellaneous No.37739 of 2021, Mr. Ajay Kumar Represented as the advocate for the petitioner and Mr. Md. Arif represented the state of Bihar as the additional Public Prosecutor, Mr. Nasrul Huda was represented as the advocate for the informant the proceedings of the court were held via video conference.
The following are the facts of the case, petitioner no.1 and 2 were accused of assaulting the mother of the informant using an iron rod and stick, and allegations of snatching gold jewelry was also made, petitioner no.3 was accused of assaulting the sister of the informant and all the petitioners along with the family members entered the house of the informant and looted Rs. 27,000 and petitioner no.4 had bitten the sister of the informant, the petitioners further damaged the motorcycle using an iron rod and stones and took three mobile phones from the house of the informant, the father of the informant was killed because of the assault committed by the petitioners.
The counsel for the petitioner held that both the families were agnates. according to the FIR, no reason has been stated on why such an event took place, the accused has also filed a case against the informant Muffasil PS Case No. 115 of 2021 on the same day, as the informant along with his family teased and harassed one of the petitioners and when the family were involved and confronted the informant they were attacked, the deceased is the own uncle of the co-accused and the parties are neighbors. The allegations were falsely implicated because there was no injury report for the attack on the mother and regarding the sister, according to the injury report, only one lacerated wound above the left half upper lip 1” x 1/2” and no sign of bite was found by the doctor. All the petitioners are females and have no criminal antecedent they have been implicated with ulterior motive and the death of the father of the informant was caused by the co-accused and not the petitioners.
The APP held that the petitioners were accused of assaulting the mother and biting the sister of the informant, counsel for the informant held that the father of the informant died due to the injuries resulting from the assault. However, it is not controverted that the assault on the deceased was done by the co-accused and not the petitioners and also there is no injury report for the attack on the mother of the informant.
After considering the facts and circumstances of the case the Patna High Court held that “the allegations against the petitioners, who have been made accused along with their other male members, are not corroborated by the material brought before the police and as the petitioners are ladies without any criminal antecedent, the Court is inclined to allow their prayer for grant of pre-arrest bail.”
The court concluded that “The petitioners will be released on bail upon furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 25,000each with two sureties of the like amount each to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, PS Case No. 114 of 2021, under Section 438(2) Cr.P.C., 1973 (i) that one of the bailors shall be a close relative of the petitioners, (ii) that the petitioners and the bailors shall execute the bond and give an undertaking with regard to the good behavior of the petitioners, and (iii) that the petitioners shall cooperate with the police/prosecution. Any violation of the terms and conditions of the bonds or undertaking or failure to cooperate shall lead to the cancellation of their bail bonds. The petition stands disposed of in the aforementioned terms.”
