The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed the regular bail plea of Neeraj Sehrawat alias Neeraj Bawania in Jail Van double murder case.
The High Court said that “the larger interests of society must prevail over the individual rights of an undertrial.”

Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani dismissed the bail application after hearing the submissions and due consideration of facts.
Justice Bhambhani said, “In the present case the record shows that the petitioner has committed heinous offences while he was on bail in other cases, and he has been convicted for the offences committed while on bail.
“When there is a long list of serious criminal involvements, including convictions for offences committed while on bail in other cases, the apprehension that the petitioner suffers from recidivism cannot be dismissed as imaginary. In that view of the matter, the petitioner’s submission that he has served sentence for those crimes offers scant comfort to the court that no one else will be harmed by the petitioner if he is enlarged on bail this time,” Justice Bhambhani said.

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The bench said that it is also settled law, that bail can justifiably be denied when there is real risk of repeat offences being committed. Sections 437 and 439 of the Cr.P.C. contemplate that contingency.

“As a sequitur to the foregoing, regrettably this court finds itself unable to allow the present bail petition, which is accordingly dismissed,” the High Court said in the order passed on January 15.

The High Court said that to reiterate, in the present case, bail is not being denied so as to inflict pre-trial punishment upon the petitioner, but in view of the petitioner’s grave criminal antecedents and demonstrable recidivistic tendencies, as discussed above.
“It may be said that the right to speedy trial derived from Article 21 of the Constitution of India is not a ‘free pass’ for every undertrial, demanding that he be enlarged on bail regardless of his criminal antecedents and the nature of the offence. In matters such as this, the larger interests of society must prevail over the individual rights of an undertrial,” Justice Bhambhani held.

While dismissing the bail application the HC said, ” This court cannot help but express its consternation about the delay in conducting trial in the subject FIR, which has given to the petitioner a ground to seek release on regular bail. The completion of trial in the present case brooks no further delay. ”
“In the circumstances, without setting out any timelines, this court urges the learned trial court to conclude the trial in the present case without any further undue delay,” the High Court urged.

Senior advocate N Hariharan, and advocate Siddharth S Yadav appeared for Neeraj Bawania.
This case is related to an incident where a violent quarrel erupted between undertrial prisoners while they were being ferried in a jail van from the Rohini Court lock-up to Tihar Jail, New Delhi, which led to two of the prisoners in the jail van namely Vikram and Pradeep being done to death by some of the other prisoners who were housed in the same compartment of the jail van as the two victims.
At the relevant time, there were 9 prisoners in the jail van. The petitioner Neeraj Bawania was one of them.