S.S. Saron, J.@mdashHeard learned Counsel for the parties.
2. This petition u/s 438 Code of Criminal Procedure had been filed seeking pre-arrest bail of the Petitioner in case F.I.R. No. 21 dated 29-01-
2007 registered at Police Station Beas, District Amritsar for the offences under Sections 302, 427, 148, 149 I.P.C. and Sections 25 and 27 of the
Arms Act.
3. The F.I.R. in the case has been registered on the statement of Jagir Singh, Member, Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (`SGPC''
for short). The complainant Jagir Singh is the uncle of Manjinder Singh Kang who was the candidate of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) in the
Assembly elections held in February 2007 from the Beas Assembly constituency. The members of the Akali party were going from Beas to Rayya.
Some persons were going on a Bolero vehicle and one Dilbagh Singh (deceased) was on a motor cycle. Many other persons were accompanying
them. At about 1.00 p.m. while going towards Rayya, they reached in front of the office of the Congress Party Candidate, namely, Jasbir Singh @
Dimpa. Said Jasbir Singh @ Dimpa was armed with a pistol. Others, namely, Harmanbir Singh @ Tinka and Harbhinderdeep Singh Rajan were
also armed with pistols. Jasbir Singh @ Dimpa, Harmanbir Singh @ Tinka and Harbhinderdeep Singh Rajan are brothers being the sons of Sant
Singh. Besides, Balkar Singh son of Ajit Singh was armed with a double barrel gun, Varinder Singh @ Vicky son of Pakhar Singh was also armed
with a double barrel gun, Jaswant Singh son of Ajit Singh was armed with a pistol, Kashmir Singh son of Karnail Singh was also armed with a
double barrel gun, Shamsher Singh son of Lakha Singh was armed with a pistol. These persons came out from the Election Office of the Congress
Candidate, namely, Jasbir Singh @ Dimpa and are stated to have hurled abuses. Thereupon, firing started and the shot fired by Jasbir Singh @
Dimpa with his pistol, hit Dilbagh Singh (deceased) who was going on his motor cycle. Said Dilbagh Singh died at the spot. This caused panic
amongst the persons. The complainant Jagir Singh, on apprehension that some persons from the complainant side had suffered fire arm injuries, ran
away leaving their vehicles. A shot had also hit the tractor owned by Jagir Singh-complainant. Thereafter, the police reached the spot and
complainant-Jagir Singh gave his statement to S.I./S.H.O., Police Station Beas. In terms of the said statement, the F.I.R. has been registered.
4. No role is attributed to the Petitioner Chattar Singh in the F.I.R. that has been registered. However, supplementary statement of the
complainant-Jagir Singh was recorded on 03-02-2007 in which, it has been alleged that the Petitioner was also present at the spot and armed with
a double barrel gun. Besides, Deepinder Singh on 30-01-2007 submitted a compact disc (CD) relating to the above occurrence before the
S.H.O. Beas as a piece of evidence which was taken in possession. Thereafter, aforesaid Deepinder Singh made a supplementary statement on
21-04-2007. He stated that at the time of submitting the C.D. on 30-01-2007 relating to the occurrence, he forgot to get his statement recorded.
Seven persons it is stated had been firing and amongst them were Chattar Singh-Petitioner and also one Gurbhej Singh son of Joginder Singh. The
role attributed to the Petitioner-Chattar Singh is that he was also present at the spot and had fired with his double barrel gun. This, however, is not
mentioned in the F.I.R. that was registered on the statement of the complainant-Jagir Singh. It may be noticed that pre-arrest bail application of
Gurbhej Singh had been dismissed by this Court vide order dated 20-03-2007 passed in Crl. Misc. No. 17179-M of 2007. Against the said
order, the aforementioned Gurbhej Singh filed SLP (Crl. No. 1850 of 2007) in the Hon''ble Supreme Court of India. Vide order dated 06-08-
2007, leave to Appeal was granted and the aforesaid Gurbhej Singh has been ordered to be released on bail on his furnishing bail bonds for a sum
of Rs. 25,000/- with two sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the arresting authority or the Court concerned as the case may be subject
to the conditions laid down under Sub-section (2) of Section 438 Code of Criminal Procedure The role attributed to Chattar Singh, Petitioner is
somewhat similar to that of Gurbhej Singh who has been granted the concession of pre-arrest bail by the Hon''ble Supreme Court of India vide
order dated 06-08-2007. Therefore, Chattar Singh-Petitioner is also entitled to the concession of bail on the same terms as has been granted to
Gurbhej Singh.
5. In view of the above, Criminal Misc. Application is allowed and the Petitioner, in the event of his arrest, shall be released on bail on his
furnishing bail bonds to the sum of Rs. 25,000/- with two sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the arresting authority or the Court
concerned, as the case may be, subject to the conditions as envisaged by Section 438 Code of Criminal Procedure.
Criminal Misc. application is disposed of accordingly.