Allahabad HC Grants Bail To Suicide Abetment Accused In Custody For 6+ Years, Directs Trial Conclusion By Aug 31

The Allahabad High Court recently granted bail to a student (accused of abetting suicide) who spent over 6 years in custody without conclusion of trial. The Court also slammed the State Police Sub Inspector for being non-cooperative in the early conclusion of the trial. A bench of Justice Rahul Chaturvedi further directed the trial Judge to conclude the trial by 31st August 2024; otherwise, the Court added, an adverse inference would be drawn against the Presiding Officer. The Court was essentially dealing with a second bail plea of Aniket Dixit (accused), who was booked under Section 306 IPC Kanpur Nagar Police in 2018 and languished in jail since April 4, 2018. The counsel for the accused informed the bench that the court rejected his first bail petition in September 2018, directing the trial court to gear up the trial and conclude it within one and a half years. However, very little progress was made in the trial, leading to the accused's prolonged detention for six years. The accused's lawyer also submitted that the rest of the co-accused persons, who are either similarly placed or the real author of said abetment, were already bailed out. The applicant, who is a student and in his formative period of life, has been in jail for the last 6-7 years, which is highly unjust. Against the backdrop of this submission, the Court, at the outset, observed that it was “literally shocked and stunned” to see the “utter and deliberate defiance” of HC's “earnest request” to conclude the trial within a period of one and a half years. Perusing the order sheet of the trial court, the Court noted that the Trial Judge had been generously allowing the various applications of "Hajiri Mafi,” and only five witnesses have been examined in the case. The Court also noted that only two witnesses were examined between November 2019 and May 2023, three years and ten months. The Court also called it “an unacceptable and deplorable conduct” of Sub Inspector Vinod Kumar Mishra, one of the prosecution witnesses, for his non-cooperation. The Court added that the courts are not powerless to ensure the presence of the prosecution witnesses by using all coercive methods available under the scheme of Criminal Procedure. Given this, the court granted bail to the accused and directed the trial court to conclude the case by August 31 by holding the trial on a day-to-day basis without granting any adjournment to any of the parties or their witnesses. Appearances Counsel for Revisionist: Dileep Kumar (Senior Adv.), Rajrshi Gupta, Saurabh Chaturvedi, Shambhawi Shukla Counsel for Opposite Party: G.A., Gopal Misra, Ravindra Verma Case title - Aniket Dixit vs. State of U.P. 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 285 Case Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 285 Click here to read/download order

Allahabad HC Grants Bail To Suicide Abetment Accused In Custody For 6+ Years, Directs Trial Conclusion By Aug 31

Sparsh Upadhyay

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