Supreme Court: In a special leave petition filed against the judgment and order of the Rajasthan High Court, wherein the Court refused to grant the benefit of anticipatory bail to the accused., the division bench of Krishna Murari and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, JJ. has granted anticipatory bail to the accused.
In the case at hand, the allegations against the accused are that he entered into an agreement to sell a piece of land and obtained a sum of Rs 16 Lakhs in lieu of the same. However, he did not execute the sale deed and sold the property elsewhere. The accused in turn lodged a separate FIR alleging that his signatures on the said agreement were forged by the complainant and he has been framed. The State contended that the accused is not entitled for any anticipatory bail as he is not cooperating with the investigation and is yet to submit his specimen signatures to be sent for forensic examination.
The accused submitted that he is a disabled person having 85 percent disability and is unable to move freely, thus he could not appear and is entitled to the benefit of pre-arrest bail. Further, it was argued that the Forensic Science Laboratory (‘FSL’) report indicates that the signatures of the accused are forged. The Court, without entering into the merits of the case, held that the accused is entitled for anticipatory bail, and directed the Investigating Agency to follow the procedure prescribed under the Code of Criminal Procedure for investigation against the disabled person. Further, directed the accused to cooperate with the investigation.
[Prem Singh v State of Rajasthan, 2023 SCC OnLine SC 128, decided on 09-02-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner: Advocate -On-Record Namit Saxena, Advocate Awnish Maithani, Advocate Shivam Raghuvanshi, Advocate Shiksha Ashra;
For Respondent: Advocate -On-Record Pragati Neekhra.
*Apoorva Goel, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.