Recently, the Punjab & Haryana High Court has granted the bail to accused involved in raising fake invoices and wrongfully claiming GST ITC.The court held that grant of bail is a general rule and putting persons in jail or in prison or in correction home is an exception.
The petitioner, Anupam Singla contended that he has been falsely implicated in the present case as the petitioner was already in jail in another FIR. The petitioner submitted that co-accused in whose name the alleged offence under GST Act is stated to have been commissioned, have already been granted concession of regular bail by the Trial Court.
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It was submitted that he was not beneficiary in any manner directly or indirectly in the FIR wherein out of 40 PWs, only 8 PWs have been examined since framing of charges on 24.05.2022, therefore, conclusion of trial would take a long time.
The department opposed the bail application and contended that the petitioner is involved in other FIRs also, meaning thereby he is a habitual offender but is not in a position to controvert the submissions made by counsel for the petitioner. He informs the Court that in the present FIR challan stands presented on 28.01.2022 and charges stands framed on 24.05.2022.
The court held that grant of bail is a general rule and putting persons in jail or in prison or in correction home is an exception. It was viewed that no doubt, at the time of granting bail, the criminal antecedents of the petitioner are to be looked into but at the same time it is equally true that the appreciation of evidence during the course of trial has to be looked into with reference to the evidence in that case alone and not with respect to the evidence in the other pending cases. In such eventuality, strict adherence to the rule of denial of bail on account of pendency of other cases/ convictions in all probability would land the petitioner in a situation of denial of the concession of bail.
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The single bench of Justice Sandeep Moudgil has observed that the petitioner has already suffered sufficient incarceration i.e. 3 years, 2 months and 16 days, similarly situated co-accused have already been granted concession of bail by the Court, and as per the principle of the criminal jurisprudence, no one should be considered guilty, till the guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The court directed that the petitioner be released on regular bail on his furnishing bail and surety bonds to the satisfaction of the trial Court/ Duty Magistrate.
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