Lucknow: An Additional District and Sessions Court in Sultanpur granted bail to a theft accused while making strong observations against the police, holding that the investigation appeared to be a case of malicious prosecution and misuse of state machinery.Additional District and Sessions Judge-II Rakesh Pandey, while allowing the bail plea of Amar Bahadur, questioned the manner in which the investigation was conducted and pointed out several serious lapses in the police probe.The case pertains to a theft reported in Lakhipur village under the Shivgarh police station limits. Complainant Kanti Pandey lodged an FIR on April 2, alleging that a trunk, jewellery and other valuables were stolen from her house on the night of March 15.
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According to court records, nearly four months after the FIR was registered, police arrested Amar Bahadur, a resident of Saraiya Ambarsingh, solely on the basis of the statement of a co-accused and sent him to jail.The court observed that although police claimed the stolen jewellery was sold by the accused to a gold trader, investigators neither identified the alleged jeweller nor made any concrete effort to recover the purported stolen ornaments. The court termed these shortcomings serious lapses in the investigation.The accused’s wife, Sangeeta, earlier accused a constable posted at Shivgarh police station and other police personnel of harassment and demanding a bribe in connection with the case. Acting on her complaint, a Chief Judicial Magistrate court directed registration of an FIR, which was lodged on June 19.After considering the submissions of both sides and examining the investigation, the court criticised the police’s conduct, observing that the misuse of state machinery to maliciously implicate a person causes injustice not only to the accused but also to the complainant.The court subsequently granted bail to Amar Bahadur on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety of the like amount.
