Bail Cancellation by Trial Court in Zaidi’s Case.

HC DISMISSES ZAIDI’S BAIL PLEA, BUT SAYS TRIAL COURT SHOULDN’T HAVE CANCELLED BAIL.

In this post we’ll read about dismissal of the bail plea of suspended Himachal Pradesh IPS officer Zahur Haider Zaidi, who is an accused in the Kotkhai custodial death case by Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Facts:

1. Zahur Haider Zaidi had filed an application for interim bail for 60 days in wake of the pandemic and complained about the lack of physical distancing inside the Burail jail in Chandigarh, while also citing his history of hypertension and heart ailments.
2. The CBI, through its counsel Sumeet Goel, opposed the bail plea and said that sufficient medical facilities are available in the jail. It added that medical documents attached by Zaidi pertained to September 2017.
3. It further asked this Hon’ble court may issue necessary directions to the Jail authorities, Burail, Chandigarh to comply with the directions of the Government relating to maintaining social distancing during the present scenario of Covid 19, if jail authorities are not following the same. Further, the petitioner/accused is facing trial for heinous offences including custodial death of an innocent person.
4. It also added that there was sufficient oral, documentary and scientific evidence available on record to prove that Zaidi was actively involved in the commission of the heinous crime of causing the death of Surjaj Singh who was in custody. The accused himself was actively involved in causing torture to the arrested persons and it was at his instance that they were tortured.
5. The case relates to the custodial death of an accused, who had been arrested in a case of alleged rape and murder of a 16-year-old school girl in Kotkhai area of Shimla district.
6. The trial in the 2017 case was transferred to Chandigarh on orders of the Supreme Court. Zaidi was first arrested on August 29, 2017, within 38 days of the central agency taking over the investigation and remained in custody for over 19 months.
7. He was released on April 6, 2019 on orders of Supreme Court. The IGP rank officer was taken into judicial custody on January 24 this year after the special CBI court cancelled his bail after IPS officer Soumya Sambasivan, a prosecution witness, complained to court that she was being pressured by the accused.

Legal Provisions:

A police officer committing the murder of a suspect in custody shall be punished under section 302 of IPC for the offence of ‘murder.’

Section 302of IPC, 1860:

Punishment for murder. —Whoever commits murder shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine.

Section 300 of IPC-Murder

Murder. —Except in the cases hereinafter excepted, culpable homicide is murder, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or—

(Secondly) —If it is done with the intention of causing such bodily injury as the offender knows to be likely to cause the death of the person to whom the harm is caused, or—

(Thirdly) —If it is done with the intention of causing bodily injury to any person and the bodily injury intended to be in­flicted is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death, or—

(Fourthly) —If the person committing the act knows that it is so imminently dangerous that it must, in all probability, cause death or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, and commits such act without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such injury as aforesaid. Illustrations

(a) A shoots Z with the intention of killing him. Z dies in consequence. A commits murder.

(b) A, knowing that Z is labouring under such a disease that a blow is likely to cause his death, strikes him with the intention of causing bodily injury. Z dies in consequence of the blow. A is guilty of murder, although the blow might not have been suffi­cient in the ordinary course of nature to cause the death of a person in a sound state of health. But if A, not knowing that Z is labouring under any disease, gives him such a blow as would not in the ordinary course of nature kill a person in a sound state of health, here A, although he may intend to cause bodily injury, is not guilty of murder, if he did not intend to cause death, or such bodily injury as in the ordinary course of nature would cause death.

(c) A intentionally gives Z a sword-cut or club-wound sufficient to cause the death of a man in the ordinary course of nature. Z dies in consequence. Here, A is guilty of murder, although he may not have intended to cause Z’s death.

(d) A without any excuse fires a loaded cannon into a crowd of persons and kills one of them. A is guilty of murder, although he may not have had a premeditated design to kill any particular individual. Exception 1.—When culpable homicide is not murder.—Culpable homicide is not murder if the offender, whilst deprived of the power of self-control by grave and sudden provocation, causes the death of the person who gave the provocation or causes the death of any other person by mistake or accident. The above exception is subject to the following provisos:—

(First) —That the provocation is not sought or voluntarily pro­voked by the offender as an excuse for killing or doing harm to any person.

(Secondly) —That the provocation is not given by anything done in obedience to the law, or by a public servant in the lawful exer­cise of the powers of such public servant.

(Thirdly) —That the provocation is not given by anything done in the lawful exercise of the right of private defence. Explanation.—Whether the provocation was grave and sudden enough to prevent the offence from amounting to murder is a question of fact.

Opinion:

Since the accused is a powerful man so there are chances that he may try to tamper the evidences and will aim at manipulating the victim’s family. Therefore, necessary that his bail should be cancelled.

Conclusion

Dismissal of the bail plea of suspended Himachal Pradesh IPS officer Zahur Haider Zaidi, who is an accused in the Kotkhai custodial death case by Punjab and Haryana High Court.