Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:122132 Court No. - 65 Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. BAIL APPLICATION No. - 23795 of 2025 Applicant :- Tara Chand Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Ramesh Pundir,Rekha Pundir Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Krishan Pahal,J. 1. List has been revised. 2. Heard Sri Sunil Vashishth, Advocate holding brief of Sri Ramesh Pundir, learned counsel for the applicant, Ms. Ifra Islam, learned State Law Officer and perused the material placed on record. 3. Applicant seeks bail in Case Crime No.214 of 2025, under Sections 318(4), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 238 BNS and Section 63, 65 of Copyright Act, Police Station- Khatauli, District- Muzaffarnagar, during the pendency of trial. PROSECUTION STORY: 4. On the information of the squealer the police party is stated to have intercepted two vehicles, one Thar bearing No. UP15EN6350 in which the accused persons Aadil Mewati, Anil Chauhan and Rahul Rana were seated and the said Thar vehicle was stuffed with 360 NCERT books of Class-X. Another Honda Amaze Car bearing No. UP15CX2020 was intercepted and from it four accused persons, namely, Raju Sharma, Tarachand, Satendra Singhal and Javed were arrested along with 72 NCERT books of different classes. On the confessional statement of the accused persons seated in these cars, it was revealed that one another vehicle Swaraj Mazda No. UP15ET0237 was also going ahead which was also intercepted from the village Bhaisi in front of house of one Vinod. Accused Amit Saini was found seated on the top of the heap of books in the vehicle. Several books of NCERT were recovered from it also. On the joint pointing out of the eight arrested persons, the house of Vinod was opened by the accused Adil Mewati, from where 1,33,092 books of NCERT from class VI to XII were recovered. The books were sealed and the said vehicles were also impounded after arresting the accused persons. ARGUMENTS ON BEHALF OF APPLICANT: 5. Learned counsel for the applicant has argued that the applicant is absolutely innocent and has been falsely implicated in the present case with a view to cause unnecessary harassment and to victimize him. It is argued that the role of the applicant is at a different footing to the main accused person Adil Mewati who had opened the said premise which he had taken on rent from one Vinod of village Bhaisi, Police Station-Khatauli, District- Muzaffarnagar. The statement of owner Vinod also fortifies the said argument. 6. It is argued by learned counsel for the applicant that the FIR was instituted after a delay and there is no time of the recovery mentioned in the FIR. 7. Learned counsel for the applicant has further stated that the applicant has been falsely implicated in the instant case as the applicant is simply a labourer and the main perpetrator of the crime is yet to be identified. Although, accused Adil Mewati is the owner of the Thar vehicle bearing No. UP15EN6350, the ownership of Honda Amaze Car bearing No. UP15CX2020 and Swaraj Mazda bearing vehicle No. UP15ET0237 has not yet been ascertained by the police. 8. The applicant has been made a scapegoat by the police to show good work. It is further stated that there is no criminal history of the applicant. The applicant is languishing in jail since 03.06.2025. In case, the applicant is released on bail, he will not misuse the liberty of bail. ARGUMENTS ON BEHALF OF STATE/OPPOSITE PARTY: 9. Learned State Law Officer has vehemently opposed the bail application on the ground that heavy amount of books have been recovered and the instant case clearly falls within the parameter of Section 63 and 65 of Copyright Act, 1965 and the applicant has caused heavy loss to the state exchequer. CONCLUSION: 10. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by learned counsel for the parties, the evidence on record and considering the fact that the case of the applicant is at different footing to the main accused person-Adil Mewati without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the Court is of the view that the applicant has made out a case for bail. The bail application is allowed. 11. Let the applicant- Tara Chand, who is involved in aforementioned case crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned subject to following conditions. Further, before issuing the release order, the sureties be verified. (i) The applicant shall not tamper with evidence during trial. (ii) The applicant shall not pressurize/intimidate the prosecution witnesses. (iii) The applicant shall appear before the trial court on the date fixed. 12. In case of breach of any of the above conditions, it shall be a ground for cancellation of bail. 13. It is made clear that observations made in granting bail to the applicant shall not in any way affect the learned trial Judge in forming his independent opinion based on the testimony of the witnesses. Order Date :- 24.7.2025 Karan (Justice Krishan Pahal) Digitally signed by :- KARAN KUMAR RAO High Court of Judicature at Allahabad