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Allahabad High Court Grants Bail To A Murder-Convict In Jail For 17 Years In View Of SC's Order In 'Saudan Singh' Case
Sparsh Upadhyay
1 April 2022 7:32 PM IST
Taking into account the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Saudan Singh Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh (Crl.Appeal No.308/ 2022), the Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to one Hari Bhawan who has already served over a total of 17 years in jail.The Bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Saroj Yadav also took into account the recent observations made by the Supreme Court...
Taking into account the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Saudan Singh Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh (Crl.Appeal No.308/ 2022), the Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to one Hari Bhawan who has already served over a total of 17 years in jail.
The Bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Saroj Yadav also took into account the recent observations made by the Supreme Court in the case of Suleman v State of Uttar Pradesh| Criminal Appeal No.491/2022.
It may be noted that while in Saudan Singh Case (supra), expressing concern about the long pendency of criminal appeals before the Allahabad High Court, the Supreme Court, on Feb 25, laid down some broad parameters that can be adopted by the High Court while granting bail.
The Court ordered :
"A list should be prepared for the ones who have served more than 14 years and is not a repeat offender. In all these cases there is a high possibility that if they are released they may not be interested to also pursue their appeals. The second category can be one where people have served more than 10 years and in one go bail can be granted."
Read more about the case here: Allahabad HC Criminal Appeals Pendency : SC Suggests Convicts Serving More Than 14 Yrs Sentence Be Granted Bail Or Considered For Early Remission
On the other hand, in Suleman case (supra), the Apex Court, on March 25, termed the state of affairs before the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court as "disturbing" on being apprised of the pendency of bail applications of convicts who have undergone more than 16 years of incarceration and non-availability of the criminal bench to hear the same for the last 25 days.
Read more about the case here: Criminal Appeals From 1980s Pending In Allahabad HC; Convicts Awaiting Bail Even After 16 Yrs Sentence : Supreme Court Says "Disturbing State Of Affairs"
The case before the High Court in brief
Essentially, the HC was dealing with the Sixth Application for Bail filed by one Hari Bhawan (a Murder Convict), who has already served over 17 years i.e. since 07.11.2005
His counsel submitted that this appeal is pending since 2005 and is likely to take a couple of years or even more in its final disposal, therefore, it was prayed that in view of the orders of the Apex Court in Saudan Singh case, Suleman case, and the case of Rajendra Singh & Ors v State of UP| Writ Petition (Criminal) 52/2022, the appellant be released on bail during the pendency of this appeal
"Taking into consideration the aforesaid observations of the Apex Court and the undisputed fact that appellant by now has served more than 16 years of imprisonment in connection with the case, without expressing any opinion on the merits, we are of the view that the appellant is entitled to be released on bail," the HC observed as it allowed the instant fifth application for bail.
Case title - Ram Yagya And Others v. State of U.P.Case Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (All) 152
In related news, the Allahabad High Court, in similar circumstances, granted bail to one Fareed who had already served over a total of 16 years in jail.
Counsel for Appellant :- S.M. Abuzar Zaidi,Amar Nath Dubey,Brijesh Kumar Yadav,Mukesh Kumar Sharma,Nagendra Mohan,Ram Pratap Yadav,Rohit Tripathi,S.M. Arshad Rizvi,Savita Tiwari,Shiv Poojan Maurya,Suresh Chandra Srivastava,U.P. Singh,Vidya Bhushan Pandey
