Kriti Agrawal
Bombay High Court amended a bail order issued by a Malegaon Session Judge, in which an accused was ordered to pay Rs 25 lakh as a condition of being released on bail.
The Bench of Justice Sarang V. Kotwal was hearing an application filed by Vijaykumar Deshraj Sethi for a modification of the bail condition levied by the ASJ, Malegaon in HIS Criminal Bail Application.
The lower Court ordered him to be released on bail on a P.R. bond of Rs.1 lakh with two separate solvent sureties in the same sum, and he was also ordered to deposit Rs.25 lakhs as a condition of his release.
The Court observed that there was no denial that the informant had paid Rs.25 lakhs and had not obtained the computer, and that it was the subject of an agreement, and that if any of the terms of the agreement had been breached, the civil remedy was very much open to the informant. The argument that it is simply a legal conflict has some merit. This, however, may be investigated during the trial.
Furthermore, the Court noted that the Applicant had already been detained since November 26th, 2019 and that the Applicant had been granted bail by the Additional Sessions Judge in an order dated January 8th, 2020.
The Court made an important observation that, “As a result, the Applicant was unable to obtain the order for more than a year and three months due to the onerous pre-condition of depositing Rs.25 Lakhs…imposing Rs.25 Lakhs as a pre-condition in the operative portion was not permissible. The order contains no discussion about why such a condition was enforced.”
The Court also said that, “It appears that since the FIR mentions that the informant paid Rs.25 Lakhs, the provision that Rs.25 Lakhs be deposited was enforced. This is a form of prejudging the problem without a trial. It is well founded in various Supreme Court Judgments that such requirements should not be enforced.”
Finally, noting that the condition of imposition of Rs.25 lakhs cannot be maintained at this time, the Court ordered that he be released on bail with a PR bond of Rs.50,000 and one or two local solvent sureties in the same amount.