The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday granted bail to a 20-year-old, who is accused of causing death of two law students of OP Jindal Global University in a road accident last year [Manan Aggarwal v State of Haryana]..Justice Sumeet Goel took note of the fact that the accused has been in custody for more than 11 months and majority of the witnesses in the trial have already been examined."Suffice to say further detention of the petitioner as an undertrial is not warranted in the facts and circumstances of the case," the Court said..The case against accused Manan Aggarwal, also a university student, was registered on the complaint lodged by a BA Legal Studies student Rishika Singh who stated that she along with the two victims Khiyati Badoria and Jiya Singh had taken a cab from Golden Hut dhaba to their campus at about 6:00 am on February 23, 2024.Aggarwal, who was reportedly intoxicated, allegedly took control of the vehicle and relocated the taxi driver to the passenger seat. The three girls were seated on the back seat. The accused allegedly drove the vehicle at high speed and while overtaking a truck, the vehicle turned turtle and struck an electric pole.Badoria and Singh died at the spot. Aggarwal was initially booked for rash driving, causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others and causing death by negligence. However, he was later booked for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder..In November 2024, the trial court charged Aggarwal under Section 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) and Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). .His counsel told the High Court that there was no whisper of alcohol in the medical report and that investigating officer in his cross-examination admitted that there was no material to show he had consumed alcohol or was under the influence of any intoxication at the relevant time.The Court was also told that 16 out of 18 witnesses have already been examined in the trial and thus there is no likelihood of accused interfering with the prosecution evidence.However, the prosecution, victim-side and complainant argued that the accused had caused homicidal death of two persons on account of his driving under intoxication. It was also submitted that the accused did not have a valid driving license.Further, it was alleged that the police had not carried out the investigation properly and an application for sending the sample of accused to Central Forensic Science Laboratory is pending adjudication before the concerned court..Taking note of the progress of trial, the Court granted bail to the accused. "Nothing tangible has been brought forward to indicate the likelihood of the petitioner absconding from the process of justice or interfering with the remaining prosecution evidence especially in view of the fact that 16 prosecution witnesses out of 18 total cited witnesses have already been examined," it said.On the argument that the accused is involved in another criminal case, the single-judge said,"Indubitably, the antecedents of a person are required to be accounted for while considering a regular bail petition preferred by him. However, this factum cannot be a ground sufficient by itself, to decline the concession of regular bail to the petitioner in the FIR in question when a case is made out for grant of regular bail qua the FIR in question by ratiocinating upon the facts/circumstances of the said FIR.".Pertinently, the trial court is also considering an application seeking further investigation in the case. That matter is fixed for consideration on May 1..Senior Advocate Hemant Shrivastava with advocates Anunay Shrivastava and Rajesh Lamba represented the petitioner.Advocate Karan Garg represented State of Haryana. Advocates Keshav Pratap Sing and Sayyam Batra represented the victim-side and complainant, respectively..[Read Order]
