Bail u/s 439 of CrPC can be granted to a first time offender booked under Section 34 (2) of the Chattisgarh Excise Act.: Chattisgarh High Court
Sec 439 of CrPC grants High Court or a Court of Session special powers to grant bail to any person in custody. the applicable notifications, then there is no justification for denying the sale tax exemptions. A single bench comprising of Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal adjudicating the matter in Dinesh Kumar Chandra. v. State of Chattisgarh (MCRC No.2990 of 2021) dealt with the issue of granting bail to the accused who is in custody.
The Petitioner here is arrested on the charges of the offense punishable under Section 34 (2) of the Excise Act as around 20 litres of illicit liquor was seized by the Police from the applicant in the present case.
The counsel on behalf of the Petitioner submitted that the Petitioner has been falsely implicated in the crime for which he is been in custody since 03.05.2021. The Opp. Party opposes the bail application and implicates the accused of the criminal incident and discredits his case and denies any relief sought by the Applicant
The Court after looking upon the claims and taking into consideration the conditions enumerated in Section 59-A(ii) of the Chhattisgarh Excise Act, 1915 and the fundamentals and principles of law laid down in the case Banti Singh v. State of Chhattisgarh, concluded that in the present case the criminal ancedent on behalf of the Accused is missing and stated that ” only 20 bulk liters of illicit liquor has been seized from him, which is more than the prescribed limit of 5 bulk liters, but looking to the fact that it is first offence of the applicant and he is in custody since 03.05.2021 and the case is triable by the Judicial Magistrate First Class and trial is likely to take some more time and further taking into account the nature and gravity of offence and plea raised by the applicant that he has falsely been implicated in case, I am of the opinion that present is a fit case, in which the applicant should be enlarged on regular bail.”
The bail application under Section 439 CrPC was allowed. And the court directed that,” on furnishing a personal bond in the sum of ₹ 25,000/ with one surety in the like sum to the satisfaction of the concerned Court for his appearance as and when directed, the applicant shall be released on bail, subject to following conditions:
- That, the applicant shall furnish a specific undertaking that while on bail, he will not commit any excise offence, otherwise bail granted to him shall be liable to be cancelled and shall cooperate the prosecution during trial.
- That, the accused/applicant shall make himself available for interrogation before the concerned Investigating Officer as and when required and the accused/applicant shall not, directly or indirectly, make any inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him/her from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any police officer.
- That, the accused/applicant shall not act, in any manner, which will be prejudicial to fair and expeditious trial.”
