Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:113946 Court No. - 50 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 47131 of 2024 Applicant :- Santosh Paswan Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Swati Agrawal Srivastava Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.,Krishna Kumar Verma,Md. Aman Khan Hon'ble Ajay Bhanot,J. Matter is taken up in the revised call. This is the third bail application. By means of the bail application the applicant has prayed to be enlarged on bail in Case Crime No. 238 of 2018 at Police Station- Chopan, District-Sonbhadra under Sections 147, 148, 149, 302, 120B, 34 IPC and Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act. The applicant is in jail since 12.10.2019. The bail application of the applicant was rejected by this Court on 19.04.2024. The following arguments made by Ms. Swati Agrawal Srivastava, learned counsel assisted by Ms. Diksha, learned counsel on behalf of the applicant, which could not be satisfactorily refuted by Shri Mohd. Aman Khan, learned counsel assisted by Shri Krishna Kumar Verma, learned counsel for the first informant and Shri Paritosh Kumar Malviya, learned AGA-I from the record, entitle the applicant for grant of bail: 1. The applicant is a law abiding citizen who cooperated with the police investigations and had joined the trial. 2. The applicant never influenced witnesses or tampered with the evidence. 3. The applicant did not adopt dilatory tactics or impede the trial proceedings. 4. Status report sent by the trial court records that the prosecution proposes to examine 17 prosecution witnesses to bring home the charges. However, till date only 11 witnesses have been examined. 5. The trial is moving at a snail's pace and shows no sign of early conclusion. The applicant is not responsible for the delay in the trial. 6. Prosecution witnesses are deliberately delaying the trial only to prolong the incarceration of the applicant. 7. The applicant has been in jail for more than 5 and a half years. 8. Inordinate delay in concluding trial will lead to virtually an indefinite imprisonment of the applicant without there being any credible evidence to implicate him in the offence. 9. The right of the applicant to speedy trial has been violated. 10. The applicant has explained his criminal history. It is also contended that the applicant is a convenient scapegoat for the police authorities. The applicant has been falsely nominated in a number of false cases only to show the proficiency of the police investigators. The said cases do not have any bearing on the instant bail application. 11. The applicant is not a flight risk. The applicant being a law abiding citizen has always cooperated with the investigation and undertakes to join the trial proceedings. There is no possibility of the applicant influencing witnesses, tampering with the evidence or reoffending. In wake of the preceding discussion and without making any observations on the merits of the case, the bail application is allowed. Let the applicant -Santosh Paswan be released on bail in the aforesaid case crime number, on furnishing a personal bond and two local sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court below. The following conditions be imposed in the interest of justice:- (i) The applicant will not tamper with the evidence or influence any witness during the trial. (ii) The applicant will appear before the trial court on the date fixed, unless personal presence is exempted. The learned trial court is directed to fix the sureties after due application of mind in light of the judgement rendered by this Court in Arvind Singh v. State of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. Home Deptt. (Application U/S 482 No.2613 of 2023). The learned trial court shall ensure that the right of bail of the applicant granted by this Court is not frustrated by arbitrary demands of sureties or onerous conditions which are unrelated to the socioeconomic status of the applicant. The learned trial court is directed to expedite the trial within a reasonable period of time. It is further directed that in case the applicant or any accused person who has been enlarged on bail does not cooperate in the trial, adopts dilatory tactics, or misuse the liberty of bail, the learned trial court shall record a finding to this effect and cancel the bail without recourse to this Court. Order Date :- 15.7.2025 Dhananjai Digitally signed by :- DHANANJAI High Court of Judicature at Allahabad