The High Court of Punjab and Haryana rejected the bail application of a person accused of the creation of bogus invoices and other documents and held that there cannot be any special relief in the procedure due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The petitioner, Rajinder Bassi had allegedly forged bills and other documents in furtherance of their designs to cause loss to State Exchequer which prima-facie would also attract an offense punishable under section 467 IPC which is punishable with imprisonment for life. The petitioner seeks a grant of interim bail procedure, mainly on account of the prevalent conditions of the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
The petitioner contended that since a large number of inmates are confined in New District Jail, Nabha and the threat of the spread of pandemic COVID-19 still looms large and since the policy has in fact been framed by the State Government for release of prisoners, the present petitioners deserve to be released on bail in terms of the policy.
The single-judge, Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill, while relying on the decision of the Apex court observed, “since the Nabha Jail already stands decongested and there is no reported case of COVID-19 within the premises of a jail, therefore keeping in view the nature and gravity of the offense and the amount involved this Court does not deem it appropriate to grant interim bail to the petitioner.”
“Before parting with this order, it is directed that the Superintendent, Jail would ensure that that all the required cautions and safeguards are duly adhered to whenever any new inmate is admitted to jail and would get him/her medically examined and keep him/her segregated from other inmates at least for a period of 14 days so as to rule out any chance of spread of epidemic within jail premises in case such fresh prisoner happens to be infected with COVID-19 although he may not initially have shown any such symptoms,” the court ordered while dismissing the interim bail application.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the Judgment
