Devanshu And ORS v. State Of Bihar And ANR

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Criminal Miscellaneous No.9944 of 2015 Arising Out of PS.Case No. -28 Year- 2015 Thana -DANAPUR District- PATNA ====================================================== 1.Devanshu son of B.N.Singh

2. Kumar Gaurav son of Birendra Singh

3. Rakesh Singh son of Ajit Singh

4. Rajesh Kumar Srivastava son of ravindra Prasad Srivastava

5. Madho Singh son of Late Nand Kumar Singh 6.Raju Kumar Srivastava son of Late Jwala Prasad

7. Baidhnath Singh son of Late Brahmdeo Singh

8. Sudhanshu Kumar Singh son of B.N.Singh

9. Birendra Singh son of Late Ram Chandra Singh .... .... Petitioner/s

Versus

State of Bihar & Anr .... .... Opposite Party/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Dayan Shanker Prasad For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Sadanand Paswan(Spl.App) ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT KUMAR SRIVASTAVA ORAL ORDER 12-03- Heard learned counsel for the petitioners as well as learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State and learned counsel for the informant.

Petitioners apprehend their arrest in connection with Danapur Police Station Case No. 28 of 2015 registered for the offences punishable under Sections 341, 323, 504/34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The accusation against the petitioners is that they humiliated the informant calling his caste name and also assaulted him.

The contention on behalf of the petitioners is that much

Patna High Court Cr.Misc. No.9944 of 2015 (2) dt.12-03-2015 2/3 prior to institution of the present case, petitioner no. 7 lodged Danapur P.S.Case No.01 of 2015 against the informant of the present case and several others and apart from this a dispute arose when local administration forcibly installed an idol of "Lord Hanuman" in front of Gas godown of petitioner no. 7 at the time of beautification of the road from which, several litigations started and as a matter of fact, the present case is also continuation of the aforesaid litigations.

Learned counsel appearing for the informant submits that there is specific allegation against these petitioners that they humiliated the informant calling his caste name in full public view and, therefore, in view of section 18 of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, this anticipatory bail petitioner is not maintainable. No doubt, section 18 of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act prohibits to entertain a petition filed under section 438 of the Criminal Procedure Code but now it has already been settled in several decisions that if a case under provisions of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act is instituted with ulterior and malafide intention, the Court has got jurisdiction to entertain a petition filed under section 438 of the Cr.P.C even if the case has been registered under the provisions of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

Patna High Court Cr.Misc. No.9944 of 2015 (2) dt.12-03-2015 3/3 Now I advert to the facts of the present case. According to the prosecution case itself, the occurrence took place due to none payment of dues amount and not because of caste of the informant. Moreover, Annexure-2 and other documents available on the record show that prior to institution of the present case, there was series of litigations between the parties and in view of the aforesaid circumstance as well as submission of the parties I am of the opinion that this anticipatory bail petition is maintainable.

Considering the aforesaid facts and circumstances as ell as submissions of the parties, this anticipatory bail petition is allowed and it is ordered that petitioners, in the event of their arrest/surrender within four weeks from the date of receipt/ production of copy of this order to the court concerned, shall be released on bail on furnishing bail bonds of Rs. 10,000/-( ten thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each to the isfaction of of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Danapur Danapur Po Police Station Case No. 28 of 2015, subject to nditions as laid dodown under Section 438(2) of the Cr.P.C. (Hemant Kumar Srivastava, J) Namita/- U