Apex Court Grants Bail To Syed Asim Ali Accused Of Conspiracy In Kamlesh Tiwari Murder Case
|The Supreme Court has granted bail to one of the alleged conspirators in the murder of Hindu Samaj Party leader Kamlesh Tiwari in 2019 after the Allahabad High Court dismissed the application on the ground that it was a case of “extreme communal hatred”.
The Bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih observed, “One of the allegations against the appellant is that he was always in touch with the accused who actually participated in the incident. Another allegation is that his job was to provide legal aid to the accused. There are no other antecedents in the sense that based on the present case, U.P. Gangsters and Anti- Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 Act has been invoked against him. Hence, a case is made out for enlarging the appellant on bail.”
Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave appeared for the Petitioner while AOR Shaurya Sahay and Advocate Aditiya Kumar appeared for the Respondent.
The Petition was filed after the Allahabad High Court rejected the application for bail. The Accused was arrested for the offences under Sections 302, 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Court also noted that the Accused underwent incarceration for more than four and a half years, 16 out of 25 prosecution witnesses, including eye-witnesses, have been examined so far and 8 out of 13 accused have been already enlarged on bail.
According to the High Court, this was a case of extreme communal hatred. In the year 2016, two accused issued a Ferman(Order) that they would pay a hefty amount of Rs. 51 lacs and Rs. 1.5 crore respectively to the person, who will cause the death of the deceased, who allegedly made comments with regard to Paigamber of a particular religion.
The FIR was lodged by the wife of Tiwari against unknown persons and two named accused that on a fateful day, two unknown assailants came to the office of Tiwari in the presence of the Complainant. At that time one Saurashtra Singh was also present. She later found that her husband died due to multiple stab injuries and firearm injuries.
The High Court had also noted that according to record a detailed investigation was carried out and not only two assailants were identified but a large conspiracy was also detected and finally charge sheet was filed against 13 accused persons including the Accused before the High Court.
While dismissing the bail application, the High Court had given seven reasons, as follows, “(a) It is a case where deceased was subjected to extreme communal hatred and was eliminated by way of a brutal day light murder. (b) Not only multiple stabbed wounds were inflicted but deceased throat was also cut and there was a firearm injury also. (c) There are substantial evidence that applicant was involved in crime and was part of a larger conspiracy and specific role was assigned on him to give legal assistance to main assailants if they got arrested. (d) There are electronic evidence to the effect that applicant has called multiple times to main assailants soon before occurrence. (e) The main assailants were identified by two witnesses. (f) Considering the manner of assault and larger conspiracy there is reasonable apprehension of the witnesses being influenced. (g) There are direction passed by this Court to expedite trial and according to record out of proposed 35 witnesses, 7 have been examined.”
Accordingly, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal and enlarged the Accused on bail.
Cause Title: Syed Asim Ali v. The State of Uttar Pradesh
Appearances:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, AOR Prastut Mahesh Dalvi and Advocate Vidhi Pankaj Thaker.
Respondent: AOR Shaurya Sahay and Advocate Aditiya Kumar.