Jaunpur Custodial Death 2021: Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To 4 Accused Cops, Notes CBI Allegation Of Torture, Murder
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail applications of 4 Uttar Pradesh police personnel accused in connection with the 2021 Jaunpur custodial death case.
In its 95-page order, Justice Samit Gopal reproduced the CBI chargesheet's allegation that the accused police personnel caused grievous injuries to the deceased Krishna Kumar Yadav alias Pujari to extract a confession and subsequently murdered him by inflicting injuries sufficient to cause his death.
The CBI further alleged that false records were created to portray his death as resulting from an accident or assault by unknown persons rather than physical torture in police custody.
The Court rejected the bail pleas of Jaysheel Tiwari, Ramkrit Yadav, Raj Kumar Verma and Angad Prasad Chaudhary, who were among the police personnel charge-sheeted by the CBI in connection with Krishna Yadav's death in police custody in February 2021.
The chargesheet was filed against 11 police personnel for offences under Sections 302, 330, 331 and 218 read with Section 34 and Section 120-B of the IPC. The Special CBI Judge in Lucknow subsequently framed charges on September 18, 2024.
Case in brief
Briefly put, an FIR was lodged on February 12, 2021, under Sections 302, 394, 452 and 504 IPC at Baksa Police Station, Jaunpur.
According to the FIR, Krishna Kumar Yadav was allegedly taken from his house around 3 AM on February 11, 2021, by the SOG team and the then Baksa SHO along with other police personnel.
The informant alleged that later that night, police personnel returned with Krishna, who was allegedly unable to stand and shouted to his mother to save him, saying that the police would kill him.
The family was subsequently informed that Krishna had died in police custody.
Following proceedings before the High Court, the investigation was transferred to the CBI in September 2021. The CBI subsequently registered its own FIR and filed a chargesheet against 11 police personnel. The Supreme Court later upheld this order.
The original postmortem report recorded three contusions, including injuries over the buttocks, lower scapular region and left arm, and attributed the cause of death to shock and syncope allegedly resulting from myocardial infarction.
However, the CBI relied upon a subsequent opinion of an AIIMS, New Delhi medical board, which opined that the deceased had suffered multiple blunt-force injuries and that the cause of death was “shock due to cumulative effects of multiple blunt force injuries sustained to the body.”
The Board stated that the injuries were antemortem, fresh and collectively sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature.
The High Court also considered the Supreme Court's March 12, 2024 order canceling the bail granted to co-accused Jitendra Singh.
The Supreme Court had observed that the case involved an allegation of custodial death against a member of the police force and that a stricter approach was warranted while considering bail.
It also noted the gravity of the charge under Section 302 IPC and directed the accused to surrender before the CBI Court.
The High Court noted that the ongoing trial had examined 11 prosecution witnesses.
In Jaysheel Tiwari's case, the High Court noted that he had allegedly absconded during the investigation, leading to proceedings under Sections 82 and 83 CrPC. The Court also noted that he subsequently absconded from the trial before his arrest.
It held that this conduct indicated non-cooperation and a likelihood of absconding. His bail plea was accordingly rejected.
Ramakrit Yadav and Raj Kumar Verma sought bail for the second time, after the Court rejected their earlier applications in 2022. The Court found no fresh grounds to reconsider their bail pleas and rejected them.
It also observed that parity with a co-accused, by itself, could not constitute a ground for bail.
The Court also referred to the HC's earlier observations in one of the related cases that this incident involved "custodial torture and death with robbery in a well-planned conspiracy" and constituted a "clear-cut case of abuse of police powers and police high-handedness".
In view of this, the Court rejected all four bail applications while directing the trial court to expedite the proceedings and avoid unnecessary adjournments.