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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court on May 1, 2024, again granted bail to Sachin Sharma and Subham Gurjar in the case of firing at AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi's vehicle on February 3, 2022.

In November 2022, in an SLP filed by Owaisi, the Supreme Court had set aside the earlier order of the high court granting bail to them and remanded their bail plea back to the high court for fresh adjudication.

Through the SLP, Owaisi had argued before the top court that after the grant of bail, the applicants i.e. Sachin Sharma and Subham Gurjar had misused the said liberty by giving an interview before the press in which threats were issued to him.

While setting aside the high court's order, the Supreme Court had observed that in the earlier bail order, no reasons were given at all while releasing both men on bail, and even a prima facie opinion was not given in respect of the materials collected during the course of the investigation which was a part of the charge-sheet. 

The top court had also opined that the seriousness of the offence alleged against them was not considered by the high court.  

As such, the matter was remanded back to the high court and was placed before the bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia. 

The counsel for Sharma and Gurjar argued that they were not named in the FIR and against them, only a view had been formed by the investigation officer from the analysis of the CCTV footage from a toll plaza. He contended that the investigation officer had done no exercise whatsoever to identify the persons seen in the CCTV footage with the actual photographs, which was a major lacunae in the investigation.

He argued that there were no independent witnesses to the search as was reflected in the recovery memo which was more of a confessional statement of Sharma and Gurjar. 

He submitted that no one had sustained any injury in the incident and both the men were in custody since February 4, 2022. 

He asserted that out of the total proposed 60 witnesses, only 3 witnesses have been examined which are the informant and the two persons sitting in the car along with Owaisi who have not identified or named Sharma and Gurjar in their testimonies recorded during trial.

He, therefore, argued that Sharma and Gurjar suffered pre-trial detention of more than two years despite having no criminal antecedents, and as such, they may be enlarged on bail.

The plea was opposed by the case informant and Owaisi. Their counsel contended that Sharma and Gurjar had violated the condition of the earlier bail order by holding a press conference and apart from the CCTV footage, their presence on the spot in question was also verified on the basis of call detail records by the investigating officer. He, however, could not dispute that both men had no criminal antecedents and that only 3 witnesses had been examined out of the total proposed 60 witnesses out of which 24 were fact witnesses.

"The evidences linking the applicants with the offence in question are prima-facie weak evidences at this stage. In any case, the same is to be seen during trial and any observation with regard to the quality of the evidences might have an adverse affect on the trial," the high court held. 

Further, the single judge bench opined that the interview of Sharma, heavily relied upon by Owaisi's counsel, was prima-facie in the realm of free speech.

"there being nothing more to suggest that actual threat was issued by the applicant to the victim, prima-facie, a case for bail is made out based upon the reasoning as recorded above in composite," the bench held. 

Accordingly, it allowed the bail applications and ordered Sharma and Gurjar to released on bail on their furnishing a personal bond with two sureties of the like amount each separately to the satisfaction of court concerned.

In 2022, Owaisi's car was attacked in Hapur while he was returning to Delhi after attending election-related events in western Uttar Pradesh.

Case Title: Sachin Sharma And Another v. State of UP